Home is Where the Heart is
by Halloweenomaniac
Summary: After finally back home Luke looks back on what he's missed in the last two years. He gains abilities and becomes a protector of the Key but the group will be in for a surprise when his original, Asch, comes back after one year prior to Luke and get into another adventure that will endanger all replicas and not just Luke. Will they be able to stop these people or will they fail?
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1

Everything is so peaceful and beautiful. After four long, hard years they finally did it. They finally saved Auldrant and everything was back to the way it should be. Luke fon Fabre still couldn't believe that everything he and his friends had been through and everything they had sacrificed they were able to make this world so beautiful. Luke sat on a bench in the middle of the courtyard of the manor as he looked up at the miasma free sky, staring up at the Fon Belt with a soft smile on his face. It had been a year since that night in Tataroo Valley where he reunited with everybody and went back home. His friends were so happy to have him back and even Jade gave him a friendly handshake with a warm smile. They asked him how he came back and he explained the best way he could was that Lorelei brought him back by regenerating his fonons back together; it was slow going but it did the job even though it took two long year but he wasn't going to complain. He was just happy to be back home with his family again, especially Tear. Wonderful, beautiful Tear. He still remembered how her face looked when she saw him and the pure joy on it when she knew it was him. Luke smiles softly at the memory.

On their way back to Baticul in the Albiore II, he also explained to them that he was now the Guardian of the Key of Lorelei, which explained why he had it right now and was also the soul protector to the Power of Lorelei that now resides within his fonons and can use its power however he needs as well as to protect Auldrant. Luke knew that Jade was at first concerned about the issue but he also know that he trusted Luke enough to use it wisely and for that he was grateful. The others had also recapped on how much has changed since he'd been gone as well as his coming of age ceremony at the manor, which meant he was officially twenty-years-old (or ten to be exact).

Jade was now a Brigadier General in Third Division of the Malkuth Imperial Forces and is currently retaking up fomicry to study and help out the remaining replicas to make a better life for themselves; though he was still the same obnoxious, sarcastic man as always. Anise at the moment is training to become the first female Fon Master so she could realize Ion's vision as well as helping Florian's studies. Natalia goes around and travels to different places as a goodwill ambassador to help people that had suffered from the after affects from the miasma and areas that had been damaged from the lowering of the outer lands. Guy has gone up a rank and is now a Marquess of Malkuth and is currently helping Noelle and Ginji with the making of new Albiores as well as being a goodwill ambassador to help with peace between the two countries. And Tear? She was now the new Commandant of the Order of Lorelei to correct the mistakes what her brother had done since she felt responsible. Luke was amazed at how much has changed since he'd been gone and he was for them making a difference in the world in their own way. He was glad that they could move on with their lives and still keep in touch and was even happier to know that Tear still loved him. The whole way back she hadn't let go of his arm once as if she was afraid if she did he would disappear again. When he got back home, he was met with surprised and ecstatic looks. Poor Lady Suzanne was practically in tears as she squeezed the life out of him while Duke Fabre and King Ingobert gave him warm greetings as well as everyone else. Everything had happened so fast that it was almost overwhelming but not unwelcome. His uncle even gave him the title of Viscount, which meant he had to read and approve laws as well as go to meetings but he didn't mind, surprisingly. He was just glad that he was able to help out his country in any way he can.

Luke sighed as he returned to the book he was currently reading in his lap. Luke chuckled at the hypocrisy because back then he used to hate reading and now look at him, reading a book about fonic artes. His father had insisted it would be best for him to learn how to use fonic artes and even hired a tutor. Luke was amazed at how quickly he was able to grasp it and was soon becoming a master at them. He was also studying up on learning how to use different types of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Jade was even kind enough (which surprised him) to teach him how to separate an objects fonons and now hides two spears that connect together to become a lance directly into his arms like Jade does.

With his new powers, his speed and stamina as well as his senses and reflexes were heightened to a degree no normal human being should have along with his newly found strength. One time when he was just figuring out his new powers from Lorelei, with one punch he actually crumbled a boulder to pieces and his hand barely even bruised at all. Jade, as the curious person he was, asked Luke to come to Grand Chokma once a month so he could study his abilities. The noble agreed since he knew the Necromancer was only being cautious and didn't mind. Plus, you'd be a fool to say no to Jade.

Feeling bored just sitting around and already finished with the book, the young noble closed it and stood up as he stretched, popping his back in the process. He thought it would be nice to walk around the garden for a bit since he had no meetings today and had nothing better to do on his day off. He looked down at the sleeping cheagle next to him, wondering if he should wake him up but decided not to since Meiu did look tired and just walked off towards the garden at the back of the house. Once he got to his destination, he decided to go walk around in the large maze they had to see if he could break his record on how long it would take to get out. After being stuck here for seven years, he practically had this whole maze memorized inside out; his current record now was two hours the best and he was determined to break it.

By the time he got out an hour and a half had past and he couldn't help but feel proud of that. "Only thirty minutes early, not bad." He congratulated himself, and then paused as he felt a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time and didn't think he would ever feel again. "No…it couldn't be." And he took off running with his newfound speed through the garden and with a mighty leap, he jumped over the wall that separated the manor from the small forest they had, landing on his feet perfectly.

He walked around the area trying to find the source he had been sensing and knew that it was close by as his eyes scanned the area for what it was. Could it be…? "Didn't take you long enough huh, Dreck?" at the sound of the familiar voice, Luke jumped and whirled around to see whom he thought he sensed was confirmed. Stepping out from behind a tree was none other than his original, Asch. Alive. He was alive. Though a little worse for wear judging by the state of the tattered clothes he was in instead of his usual God-General clothes and how his hair was disarray and still had his usual scowl, but none the less alive and well and standing right in front of him. Luke couldn't help but feel pure joy at seeing him again and gave him the biggest grin Asch had ever seen on the replica.

"Asch…your alive." He whispered out, not sure if what he was seeing was there. "I can't believe it! You're alive!"

"Will you shut up?! You've already made that statement clear to the both of us."

"But I don't understand, how are you here? We all thought you died, I felt you die! You know what, it doesn't matter. I'm just so happy to see you back. Mother and Father will be thrilled to know you're alive and Natalia will be ecstatic to see you!"

"Shut up, do you ever stop talking!? I didn't come all the way from Tataroo Valley just to come back and hear you ramble!" the young monarch's smile faded at this and turned into confusion.

"You're…not coming home?" he shook his head.

"No. Like I said the last time, this isn't my home anymore."

"But then…why are you here?" for a moment, he didn't think he would answer but was surprised when he did.

"I only came here to see if you were alive as well. Looks like my assumptions were correct." Asch was about to turn and leave when his replica stopped him and if possible, his scowl turned deeper. "What?" he grunted out, not hiding the annoyance in his voice.

"Don't you want to let everyone know that you're back and well?" his original scoffed and turned away.

"...It's best that they don't know that I'm alive."

"But why?"

"What does it matter?!" he shouted angrily and Luke flinched back at the glare he received. "It's not like they'll care, they won't be happy to see me. They're only happy to have you back, not me." Luke frowned at this.

"You're wrong Asch?"

"Am I?" he challenged and he stared at him in the eyes with unwavering determination; he will get through to Asch and make him come home to everyone.

"Yes." He answered without hesitation. "They'll be happy to have you back, especially our parents and Natalia." The other scoffed again. "It's true! They will." He argued with his stubborn twin, but he just narrowed his eyes at him.

"...Even if they were, it still wouldn't change my mind about staying. There's nothing left for me here."

"Again you're wrong. You still have a family and a princess who still loves you, and you can still reclaim the throne." Asch quirked an eyebrow at the last part.

"What and you're not?" he shook his head.

"I'm not right to claim the throne and I already told Uncle that as well. The rightful heir should be you with Natalia by your side." Again Asch shook his head.

"It doesn't matter if I reclaim the throne or not, this isn't my home anymore; it hasn't been for eleven years."

"Yes it is and it still can be if you just come back and you'll see otherwise!"

"No." was his only reply and Luke sighed.

"Then where are you gonna go?" he asked and for the first time ever, Asch felt unsure. He realized that he really didn't have anywhere else to go and the thought unnerved him more than his death. He could very well go back to Daath and reclaim his title as a God-General at least but what would be the point. He couldn't go back there, both because that wasn't home and had too many memories of Van; memories that he wanted to never remember. There wasn't anywhere he could call home; he had nowhere else to go.

"I…I don't know…" Luke gave him a soft smile.

"Asch, if you could just come back you will see that you still have a home here with people that still love and care about you. In fact, I'll even show you so stop pushing those people away just because you're afraid of being hurt. They won't hurt you and won't think any less of you, I'm sure of that. And you can't dwell on the past forever, all it'll do is keep on hurting you. Like I always say, you can't move forward if you keep looking back, so the only way to heal is to move past the bad and let in the good...and I will tell you that you can get that here. Just please...come home." He pleaded as he offered his hand out to his original, his smile still present and his emerald gaze showing as much warmth as possible.

Asch stared at the hand, then at Luke and back again apprehensively, unsure if he should take it or slap the hand away. He had made it clear to himself long ago that this was not his home anymore and that he had nothing left here, but seeing how sincere his replica was being and the warmth that he saw in his eyes that were so identical to his but weren't made him rethink everything. Maybe, just maybe...what he was saying was true. Maybe he could go back home and have everything that he had lost. It wouldn't be the same as before but still, change would be nice. But then again it was also terrifying because all his life all he had was the pain and the anger of his past and just forgetting about it, well, he would be lost…But he couldn't be afraid of it forever, he had to at least try and deal with it. Finally making his decision, he slowly but tentatively reached out with his hand, paused for a second and laid it in his isofon's hand. Luke positively beamed at this and without a thought he grasped the hand he was holding. "I promise, you won't regret it!" he said before he took off running, surprising his twin as he stumbled a bit from the unexpected jerk of his arm and being dragged away while Luke just ran like a kid excited about going to a toy store. He was about to snap at Luke to stop dragging him and slow down when he noticed the speed they were going and looked at him in astonishment.

"You have the power of Lorelei too?!" he exclaimed and the other just laughed as he glanced behind him with a grin.

"I guess we're both protectors then." He replied and turned just in time to announce to Asch to jump and they both leapt over the wall, landing perfectly on their feet but didn't stop until they made it inside the manor and stopped at the front to catch their breath. "Sorry for…dragging you…I was just…excited that's all." He panted out.

"What…ever." He replied equally breathless and a little annoyed but could care less at the moment as he took in his surroundings. The place still looked the same as when he was a kid, save from the servants and maids who paused at the noise and froze when they did a double take on seeing two of their masters. Seeing this got him annoyed more. "What are you all looking at?!" he shouted defensively and they took a step back in fear.

"Asch." Luke groaned out and walked over to a nearby maid. "Could you prepare a fresh change of clothes and a bath for my friend here? And tell Mother and Father that I need to speak to them; it's important." He added and she nodded timidly.

"Y-yes Master Luke." With a bow she took off to do what she was told as he quickly shooed everyone away to go back to his or her duties. He motioned for Asch to follow him and they began to walk around until the maid went and fetched them.

"So how did you come back?" he finally asked and Asch was debating on whether or not to answer before he decided it wouldn't hurt to if he did.

"It took Lorelei a little longer but he finally managed to put my fonons back together and the next thing I knew I was in Tataroo Valley four days ago."

"Four days huh, didn't take you long to get to Baticul. Did you actually run all the way here?"

"Well duh, I wasn't going to waste my time waiting on a boat with no gald on me." He exaggerated.

"Fine, fine, sorry I asked. So how does it feel being back? Do you want your old room back or a guest room?" the older rolled his eyes at the change of subject before answering.

"It feels strange but I'll get used to it. As for the room part that room doesn't belong to me so you keep it, I'll decide where later."

"Well all right then, it's your decision. Oh right!" Luke reached behind him and took the Key of Lorelei off the strap. He turned around and offered it to him. Asch just eyed at it blankly.

"What is this?" he asked skeptically and the redhead rolled his eyes.

"It's the Key of Lorelei, duh." He retorted, stating the obvious and wiggled the blunt end in front of him.

"I know what it is you idiot, I just want to know why the hell are you giving it to me!" he said irritably.

"I'm giving it to you because I think it's right for you to have it more than me." Asch shook his head.

"No, Lorelei entrusted you with the Key so you should keep it." Luke was saddened at this but brightened up when he had an idea.

"How about this, since we're both the Guardians of the Key how about we both protect it. You take the sword and I take the jewel, that way it would be much harder for those who would want to steal It." he explained proudly and the other redhead blinked a couple times in surprise.

"…That's actually a pretty good idea. Since when did you have a brain?" he taunted and the younger scowled.

"Since shut up." He retorted back as he separated the Jewel from the sword and dematerialized it into his body. "Do you know how to separate an objects fonons and absorb them into your body?" he asked. To prove that he did, Asch took the sword and in no time flat he absorbed the sword's fonons into his body. Luke rolled his eyes at him. "Show off." He said as the maid from before ran over and came to a halt in front of them and bowed in respect.

"I did as you requested, Master Luke." She informed.

"Thank you, show us the way and then you may go back to your duties." She nodded and they followed her until they made it to the guest wing that was right near the courtyard and stopped at a door to one of the rooms before she departed to her work. The young noble turned to the former God-General and smiled at him. "I'll wait for you out here before we can leave to see our parents." Asch just scoffed at him and walked inside. After he finished cleaning himself, he brushed through his long red locks to take out the tangles and examined it before taking a pair of scissors he found in the room to cut off the ends he didn't need, fixed his bangs, and shortened the length of his side burns; they were too long for their own good, he thought as he cut them to the length below his chin. Spotting a bottle of hair gel he debated on whether or not he should slick it back like before but decided against it. This was his new life now, so might as well start with a new hairstyle.

For a moment he just stared at himself in the mirror, examining his reflection and chuckled humorlessly. "Didn't think I would actually come back here, and the replica to actually convince me." He mused as he stepped out of the bathroom and examined the clothing on the bed he was given. What he noticed immediately was that the outfit looked exactly the same as his replica's clothes, the only differences were that the color combinations were switched and the stripe that goes around the white cuffs were red instead of yellow like his along with the shirt and pants were white with yellow lining as well; the red and black shoes were the only thing they had that exactly matched. He frowned at this, not liking the fact that he would be dressing like the dreck as if they were twins, but he actually liked the clothes so he shrugged and put them on; probably a joke from one of the maids but he'll deal with that later. After he got dressed he looked at himself in the full-length mirror than at his cuffs. "Well, at least they got my favorite color right and they are comfortable." He stated to himself as he stepped out of the room, still scrutinizing his black-gloved hands.

When Luke heard the door open, he turned around and gaped at the sight of Asch. He knew that he and Asch looked so much alike, but this was a whole other level; if they didn't look like twins before they did now because it was like looking into a mirror. They now not only looked the same but also dressed the same as well along with the same exact hairstyle (what a coincidence). The only way people would tell them apart was that Luke wore white and Asch wore black and another way to tell is the ever present scowl on his face (seriously, was his face stuck like that?). Then he shook out of his trance and gave him a nervous laugh when the redhead stared at him blankly with his arms crossed. "I swear this was not my idea. The maids probably thought it would be funny for us to wear the same clothes because we look alike. I-if you want I can ask them to give you another change of clothes?" he rambled but stopped when the other raised a hand.

"Replica. Shut up. I don't care what I wear, clothes are just clothes so let's just go already." He stated with finality.

"Uh, okay?" _Huh, harsh as always. _He thought. "Mother and Father will probably be waiting in the drawing room by now so let's not keep them waiting." He explained as they walked down the direction to the drawing room in silence. The young monarch felt a little awkward for not talking but didn't know how to make a conversation with his original, though he doubted Asch would to talk with him anyway. Just when he couldn't take it, he saw something blue fly down a hall adjacent of him and inwardly sighed in relief for the opportunity to have a distraction. "Meiu!" he called and the little cheagle backtracked and grinned when he found the person he had been looking for.

"Master!" Meiu called back and flew over to the redhead, nuzzling his furry cheek on his and Luke nuzzled back. "I was so worried when I couldn't find you when I woke up. I looked all over for you, meiu!" Luke laughed.

"Don't worry, I only went out for a walk in the garden and didn't want to wake you. And look who I bumped into." Meiu looked behind him, finally noticing the dark figure and smiled brightly.

"ASCH!" Asch winced at how high the cheagle's voice went as Meiu circled around his head once then stopped in front of him with a large smile. "I'm so happy to see that you're alive! We all thought you were gone and we were all so sad when you did. I'm so glad to see you've returned meiu!" he narrowed his eyes at "It" in annoyance.

"Dreck, will you shut It up?" he muttered out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said repeatedly as he bowed and the older popped a vein. He grabbed the cheagle by the head and threw him on the ground, stomping on his head repeatedly.

"Shut UP!" he exclaimed while Luke sweated-dropped at the sight, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Was this what he was like towards Meiu back then? He mused as he watched him kick the poor thing away, making him bounce off the walls like a rubber ball and skidding to a halt at Luke's feet. "God, I don't even know why you still keep that annoying thing." He commented.

"Ah come on, he's not that bad. Sure his voice is annoying but he is kind of cute, and Mother just absolutely adores him." Said Luke as he picked up the cheagle and rubbed his head that was dizzy from all the bouncing and stomping and sat him on his head as they continued on. Luke was relieved to have Meiu here since he didn't think he could take the silence from the former God-General, so he proceeded to distract himself by having a conversation with the cheagle about meaningless things. For something that was so annoying he sure had an interesting way of viewing the world. Finally, they made it to their destination as they stood in front of the double doors in trepidation and Asch suddenly felt nervous but didn't outwardly show it, but Luke felt it anyway through their bond and was surprised by this since he didn't think his original would get nervous. He always looked so confident, but that just shows that he really does have feelings like everyone else despite how closed off he was. All he could do was give him a sympathetic smile, but as usual. Asch just brushed it off and turned away from him with a huff and he rolled his eyes at his typical behavior. "Come on, they're waiting for us right now." The older boy nodded and let Luke go in first before following behind him. From behind the replica, he could see their parents sitting at the table, both looking concern and confused. When they heard the door open they stood and turned towards their son in question, not seeing their other son who was behind him from their angle. "Mother, Father, glad you could make it." He said in a conversational tone.

"Luke, mind explaining to us as to what was so urgent that you had to call us here?" asked Duke Fabre in all seriousness and they both rolled their eyes. As always, their father went straight to the point.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" asked Lady Suzanne, concerned.

"It's nothing you need to worry about," said Luke, "I just thought you would like to meet someone."

"And who might that be?" asked the Duke curiously, but Luke just smiled knowingly as he stepped off to the side to show them who it was and they both gasped in astonishment. Standing before them was their son, Asch, whom they both thought had died three years ago. "L…Luke?"

Asch looked up from the floor slightly and sighed before directing his focus back. "Hello Mother, Father." He mumbled out and the next thing he knew he was suddenly enveloped in a warm embrace that took him by surprise and made him stumble back.

"Oh Luke! Oh my baby boy! I can't believe you're finally back home." Lady Suzanne exclaimed as she held him for what it was worth, bursting into tears of joy. Asch couldn't help but smile softly as he slowly hugged her back.

"Yes Mother, I'm home. Please don't cry." After letting go she wiped her tears and composed herself as her husband walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it.

"Welcome home, Luke."

Asch's smile faded as he narrowed his eyes at the mention of the name. "Thank you Father, but that's not my name anymore."

"Ah, that's right. You've changed your name to Asch, my apologies." at this, he nodded. Luke and Meiu watched on with warm smiles and they took this as their cue to leave them alone for them to catch up. Luke silently closed the door behind him and left to go to the courtyard. He came to the middle and stared up at the sky. He was so glad to have his original back home. When he thought that Asch died it felt as if he had just lost his older brother. Now he had him back, he finally had his big brother back, even though he was cruel to him still, he didn't care. He was just happy to have him back safe; he just hoped that one day that his original would think of him as a brother too someday...Of course that was a lost cause and thinking of this made his face turn down crest. Asch would never think of him as family. He hated him and only thought of him as a copy that stole everything from him, Luke knew that much and he couldn't have made it clearer since they met and he didn't blame him. Since the day he was bo-…created, Luke had taken everything he had. His family, his home, his face, his friends, his _name_, everything. And he had every right to hate him for what he did. Hell even Luke hated himself sometimes because of the person he had been and what he did back then. _Guess it was just empty hope._

"Master?" he jumped in surprise and turned to face Meiu on his shoulder looking at him worriedly; he had completely forgot about the cheagle. "Are you all right?" he smiled softly and rubbed his head to assure him.

"I'm fine Meiu, just thinking that's all." With renewed vigor he turned back up to the sky. _Right then, I'll just have to keep my distance from him, that way he won't have to deal with me and be happy for once._ He thought with a nod while Meiu stared in confusion. Luke didn't want to stay away from him. In fact, he wanted to spend as much time as he possibly could with his original and get to know him better, but he had to do this for his sake so Asch could actually smile more often and he can't very well do that with his replica hanging around him. He wouldn't like it but he had to remind himself that he was only doing this because he cared about his big brother and its best if they stayed away from each other. "Meiu, I'm gonna train for a bit, so why don't you sit down so you won't get hit."

"Yes Master." Said Meiu as he obediently did what he was told and sat and watched the redhead summon up his spears in both his hands and stood in a fighting stance. He swiped the air in front of him in an upward diagonal as if he were fighting an invisible opponent, then spun around and slashed behind him. His spears separated were made to use as offense and defense and when put together, they make a lance that can be used to take down his enemies in quick sweeps, that is if you master it correctly and luckily for him he was one. Plus when thrown, like Jade's, they can explode on contact if he wills it so. His spears were incredible and he was amazed that they could withstand his strength. The whole shaft was red inlaid with a gold bulb at the blunt end as well as the lining that connects the sharp, curved point of the blade to the shaft.

Luke kept on swinging and then quickly slammed the ends of the spears together, connecting them and spun the lance around him in a graceful movement as he moved with it fluidly and slashing the air at the same time. He spun once to the right and with one hand, slashed the air in front of him. He spun it above his head and with one final swing, he slashed it downwards. The young noble panted from the workout and a little dizzy from all the spinning as he relaxed and wiped the sweat off his brow. Meiu had watched in awe and clapped happily when he finished. "That was really great, Master!"

"Thanks Meiu, glad you liked it."

"Oh! Can you do that twirling thing you did last week please? I want to see it again!"

"You mean baton twirling?" he nodded eagerly. "Why?"

"Because it was really pretty meiu!" Luke chuckled and playfully rolled his eyes.

"You think anything is pretty, but sure." Meiu cheered and he laughed. He separated his lance until he had two spears again and dematerialize one so he could have one in his hand.


	2. Ch 2

Ch. 2

Asch stepped out of the drawing room after saying bye to his parents and began walking down the hall towards the courtyard. They had a long talk together and he must say that it wasn't actually that bad. In fact, it felt good talking with them again in so long, even though he was annoyed at how many times he had to reassure them that he wasn't going to leave again but he couldn't blame them. As he stepped outside, he stopped when he saw his replica out there as well as he caught him in the middle of training with two red and gold spears in his hands. He was impressed by how well he could use them and was amazed when he connected the spears together into a lance and saw how well he could use it too. He had to admit, grudgingly, he was very skilled in those weapons-for a dreck-though he was curious as to why he had them until he remembered that their father mentioned that the dreck was training in all sorts of things from weaponry to combat training and to fonic artes. So that would be why he was out here training with them and their father also mentioned that he would be training with Luke as well. At first he refused but then became curious as to how far the idiot has come since he last saw him and didn't want him to outdo him. It may seem immature even for him, but he just couldn't help himself and the fact that their mother wanted them to train together so they could get along and he just couldn't say no. Asch was about to make his presence known when he finished but then the thing cheered with that annoying little voice of his and asked him if he could do something called "baton twirling". When he heard that, he thought it would be stupid to watch him twirl around a spear like a baton and thought about leaving but for some reason he was a bit interested and stayed hidden to watch anyway.

The young man watched as Luke took in a breath, then began twirling the spear around his fingers, spinning it from one direction to the next before being a bit flashy by spinning it from side to side. Just when he thought it was about to get boring he started twirling around along with it in a fluid motion around him, throwing it into the air from time to time. Then he became impressed when he saw him spinning the spear along his arms and switched from elbow to elbow and he did all this with a carefree smile, as if he was enjoying it, which he probably was. Seeing him train and twirl a spear so well meant he trained really hard, maybe he should invest himself two as well since Father mentioned about Luke's spears. After throwing the spear in the air he spun around once and on the second time he caught it before taking a bow to his only audience. "That was really great Master!" said the annoying thing.

"Hey thanks Meiu...that means a lot." Said Luke breathlessly, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Yeah not bad, for a replica." Said replica jumped at the voice and turned to see his original walking over until he was a foot away. How long had he been standing there?! He didn't even hear him come out. _Guy's right, I really need to be more observant of my surroundings._

"Thanks…I think?" Luke shook his head and smiled at him even though he didn't return it, but he just ignored that. "Anyway, how'd the talk go with Mother and Father?" Asch shrugged.

"Annoying, but okay; they kept on making me repeat to them that I'm not leaving."

"Heh, can't really blame them." He commented.

"By the way, it seems we'll be training together (sadly) from now on. Father's orders."

"Huh? Really?" Luke asked surprised as he tried to keep his excitement down.

"Yes, and that whenever we're out in public together, hopefully not all the time, we have to let the public think that we're brothers since not many people know that you're a replica or they'll wonder why there are two of us. But just remember this, just because they think we're 'brothers' doesn't mean that we have to think that, got it?" he added harshly with a scowl.

"Uh, okay?" he replied, trying to not show how sadden he was at this because he expected it as much. Then a thought occurred to him. "But won't the public still get suspicious since they only knew that the Duke only had one son?" he asked, a bit worried but the other just waved it off.

"It's Baticul, let them make up rumors. I don't care." Luke shrugged when suddenly he slapped his forehead as he realized something.

"I almost forgot! I need to write to everyone to let them know that you're alive. See ya!" the older redhead watched him run towards his room before he stopped at the door and looked back at him. "You should let Uncle and Natalia know you're back, I know they would be happy to see you. Especially Natalia." With that said, he disappeared into his room with Meiu in tow, leaving him standing there alone. The former God-General thought about his suggestion before leaving and walking off towards the castle. He really did miss his fiancé.

TTTTT

"Aaand…done! Phew! Finally done with the last letter to Jade." By the time he finished, it was already getting close to evening. Making sure whom they were sent to, he sealed the letters and handed them to Meiu. "Do you mind giving these to one of the guards out front, and make sure you don't lose them."

"Yes sir!" said Meiu as he floated out of the open window, just when Luke was about to relax a knock came at his door.

"Come in." a maid opened the door and bowed.

"Pardon my intrusion Master Luke, but dinner has been served and Lady Suzanne thought you might be in here." At the mention of food his stomach growled a bit and he realized he hadn't ate since breakfast.

"All right, thank you for telling me. You may go now." He dismissed and she bowed again before leaving. The redhead got up and stretched before heading out, wondering if Asch would be there. At the thought of this he sped up a bit as he headed towards the dining room.

"Master!" he turned his head without stopping to see the cheagle fly back towards him and land on his shoulder. "I did as you asked and didn't lose any of them!" he stated proudly.

"That's great, thanks for doing that for me. You hungry?"

"I am!"

"Then how about some dessert as a reward for your hard work?"

"Yay! Do you think Asch will be there for dinner meiu?"

"Don't know, but we'll see when we get there." Once inside, he automatically spotted his father and mother already seated at the table waiting for him, but when he scanned the seats he found out that his isofon wasn't here yet, though he tried not to feel too disappointed as he sat next to his mother instead of sitting next to his father where he usually sat; he wanted to save that seat for Asch when he comes in, _if_ he comes in. He set Meiu down and pushed a bowl of fruits and vegetables towards him.

"Luke, where's Asch?" his father asked.

"Don't know, let me check." He closed his eyes and concentrated on where the wayward redhead was. He saw an image of him stepping out of the castle and heading back towards the manor. "He's on his way, he was just at the castle visiting Uncle and Natalia." He informed as he began eating his steak. After five minutes the doors opened and they looked up, save Luke, to see Asch walking over and sitting down next to the Duke.

"Sorry I'm late, I was over at the castle." He explained but already knew they knew when he felt his replica in the back of his mind but didn't say anything since he probably did it for their benefit.

"That's fine." Said Duke Fabre as they began eating. "So, have you thought about claiming the throne since Luke isn't?" he shook his head.

"No, not yet. I need time to think about it first before I decide if I want to take the throne or not; I already mentioned this to Uncle as well." His father nodded in understanding.

"Take all the time you need and if you don't want to take the throne that's fine as well; Natalia said she would be fine ruling herself."

"Yeah, she mentioned that." He glanced over at the dreck and was surprised at how silent he was being as he watched him feed the cheagle a baby tomato; he didn't even bother to greet him and usually he would have to threaten him to get him to shut up. He silently scoffed and turned away as he ate a forkful of green beans. _Whatever. It's not like I care if the reject talks or not._ He thought to himself. Luke leaned over for the pepper-shaker but couldn't quite reach it and sat back dejectedly. He whispered to Meiu to get it for him and he obediently did.

"Here you go Master." He took it and nodded in thanks. The Duke and Suzanne raised an eyebrow at this curiously, now just noticing Luke's odd behavior and how quiet he was being. Usually he wasn't so quiet whenever they ate and he was fine just a few minutes ago. What had made him change his behavior so drastically?

"Luke, is something wrong?" his mother asked and he looked up in confusion.

"No why?"

"It's just that…you're usually not this quiet when we eat and you didn't have to ask Meiu to get the pepper for you, it was right next to Asch. Why didn't you ask your brother to give it to you?" Luke froze at this. Trust his mother to be observant of him, but did she had to say the "B" word when Asch was still in the room. He felt the other occupant's eyes on him but didn't even dare to think how he was looking at him.

"I-I didn't want to bother him that's all." He stuttered out, cursing himself for it. "Besides, Meiu loves to help me out, right Meiu?" the cheagle nodded, his cheeks puffed out with grapes like a chipmunk. But neither of them believed his excuse one bit, though pretended to buy it and continued eating and soon moving onto dessert. After finishing up, he excused himself and headed out the doors with Meiu close behind. They watched his retreating form and when he was gone they turned to their other son and noticing this he put his fork down and sighed irritably.

"What?" he grunted out, already knowing what they're about to ask.

"Do you know what's wrong with Luke?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care." He answered curtly, wanting to end the conversation right there. But sadly that wasn't the case.

"I just thought you would know because of your connection or something?"

"Just because we're 'connected' doesn't mean we can't block each other out or know what's wrong with the other all the time. Besides, why should I care what's wrong with the dreck?"

"Asch! That is no way to call your brother!" she scolded and he narrowed his eyes.

"He's not my brother, he's just my replica that's all." The Duke frowned disapprovingly.

"Even so, but that is still no reason for you to treat him as such. He is just a part of this family just as much as you are and whether you like it or not, he is your brother." Asch glared heatedly at the man and stood up abruptly.

"No reason?! I have every reason to do so! He took everything from me and because he was created, I was left with nothing for the last seven years. Not even my own _name_! It's because of _him_ I had to fend for myself even though I had nothing to live for. Do you really think I don't have a reason at all?!" at this, Suzanne burst into tears at hearing how much her child suffered while the Duke calmly watched him until he was sure that he was done.

"I understand how you must feel-and don't interrupt, just listen." He said when Asch was about to interject. "I am truly sorry for what has happened to you in the past…but again, that is still no reason for you to treat him the way you do when he had no control in the matter. He never knew what he was and not once in his life was he ever given a choice to control his own life so you shouldn't cast the blame onto him. Instead, you should be casting the blame on one selfish man who had ruined this family for his inane ideals, not Luke. Doing so is just as selfish." Asch turned away at this. He didn't want to admit it but he knew what he was saying is true; it really wasn't the dreck's fault for what happened. "Tell me this Asch, do you really hate Luke?" he turned back and was about to snap back but paused as he thought on this. Did he really hate Luke? He knew he was angry with him. Annoyed? Yes. Irritated? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. But hate?...He wasn't completely sure. He thought he did at one point but whatever he felt for the replica back then was gone. When did that happen!? Asch realized that the Duke was still waiting for an answer from him and he sighed in resignation.

"…No…" he replied, quite begrudgingly he might add and his father gave a small smile at this.

"Then don't blame him for something that was never his fault. Instead, try understanding how he feels about this and get to know him better, try and see the real him instead of what you think he is. You never know, you might have something in common so give him a chance." Asch mentally scoffed at the thought of him and that idiot ever having anything in common, but he clenched his hand and sighed again before facing him.

"Fine. I'll…try to get to know him. Tomorrow. Not tonight, but tomorrow. I promise." The man nodded in satisfaction and watched as his son excused himself for the night.

TTTT

The next day, Asch had tried to get himself alone with Luke as promised but for some reason the replica had been avoiding him. Whenever he tried to come near him he would be talking with someone else, like a servant or whenever he would try to seek him out Luke would just sense him at the last second through their link and would go off into another area of the manor before he could get there. And when Asch tried to make a conversation with him (though not really trying much) whenever they would bump into each other (which surprisingly wasn't very often but he would probably guess that was more on Luke's part than his own since back when they were all still traveling they for some reason always seemed to bump into one another but this time it wasn't the case) he would just give him simple answers before moving on and for some reason that irritated him more than he cared to admit and it didn't stop there either.

It happened the same way the next day as well and the day after that until it went on for a whole week. In the middle of the week, their mother even tried to get Luke to bring Asch along with him to one of the hospitals that Natalia built where he now visits the children patients to make them feel comfortable as well as the orphanage for children and replicas alike he had recently built in Baticul himself, but even doing that Luke had barely even noticed he was there let alone talk to him. By the time the next day rolled around and evening came, he came back from his walk around the city and was just thinking about giving up when he heard someone call his name and turned to find Natalia striding towards him from out of the castle. From where he was standing he could see she looked pretty mad and upon closer inspection he saw that her anger was directed towards him. He waited until she was directly in front of him. "Asch, why haven't you gotten along with Luke yet? Your mother is practically worried about you two and she keeps on asking me if you have yet." Asch groaned in annoyance.

"Well it's not my fault if the replica keeps on avoiding me every time I try to get near him and right now, I'm starting to think he doesn't want to be around me." Natalia narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in confusion.

"Luke's been avoiding you? That doesn't sound like him at all. Do you know why he's doing so?"

"How the hell should I know?! Every time I go within two feet of him he practically runs for the hills! He's probably doing it because he hates me or something, which he probably does and I don't really blame him for it." he paused when he heard Natalia giggle and raised an eyebrow at her. "What's so funny?" he asked in half defensive and half confusion.

"Oh Asch, you really don't think Luke actually hates you do you?"

"Well how else am I supposed to think when he avoids me like the plague?" she shook her head in disappointment at him.

"I may have an idea why."

"Could you explain it then, because I really would like to know by the next Remday and all this crap is really getting on my nerves."

"Really Asch, Luke doesn't hate you, that much I am certain. I don't think he could hate anyone for the life of him; it's not in his nature to do so. In fact, he even told me once that he thinks of you as his older brother and that he looks up to you." This took Asch aback.

"He…he does?"

"Of course he does. He really does love you Asch, despite how you treated him before he still cared about you and was always worried about your safety. He was always happy to see you whenever you showed up."

"Then why the hell does he keep on avoiding me?!" he exclaimed in exasperation and annoyance.

"I thought it would've been obvious." When she saw he didn't get it she sighed. "He's doing it for your sake."

"Huh?" he said rather dumbly, more confused and she sighed again.

_Really, these two are more alike than they care to admit. Both of them are just idiots...now I see where Luke gets it from._ She thought fondly. "He probably still thinks you hate him and doesn't want anything to do with him, so he's keeping his distance for your benefit." She explained.

"Tch." He scoffed and looked away. _That idiot, and after I said not to think of us as brothers. Though I should've expected as much from the dreck._ He thought but was surprised that he wasn't really all that annoyed like he usually is whenever it involved the replica. In fact, he really couldn't explain what he was feeling. Relieved? What was he relieved about, that Luke didn't actually hate him? That he was actually avoiding him over something trivial? He inwardly groaned. Why the hell was he even relieved anyway?! It's not like he even cared about that replica. Damn! Only the dreck could make him this irritated, he thought as he started towards the manor.

"Where are you going?"

"Where does it look like? I'm gonna find the dreck and make him pay for annoying the hell out of me!" he shouted back as he left. The princess stared after him and smiled in amusement.

"Oh Asch, you are one of the most observant people I know…and yet you don't even realize how much you care about Luke." She mused before heading back to the castle. The God-General-turned-Viscount almost stomped his way around the manor with his full might until he found who he was looking for outside in the garden playing tag with that annoying pet of his. He was about to walk over to him but stopped himself as he continued to watch him play and couldn't help but think of how much of a child he really looked at that moment. Then he thought on it and forgot that Luke was technically still a child at heart who was just forced to act like an adult because of how he was raised…just like he was. He may have the body of an adult but he was still eleven-years-old, he just forgets that sometimes every time he sees him, and seeing him act his own age for once made his gaze soften slightly...But he couldn't think about that right now, he had to talk to Luke. "Dre-…Luke!" he called out. Well, the best start to getting along is to call them by their names, so might as well start with that even though it felt weird not calling him Dreck and technically it used to be his name, but he'll just have to get used to it.

Luke turned when he heard his name being called, pausing their game as the cheagle landed on his head, and his eyes widened in shock. Not only was he surprised to see his original call out to him but was more surprised to hear him say his name for once instead of "Dreck" or "Replica" or something along the lines. He waited until the other redhead was standing in front of him. "H-hi Asch, did you need something?" he asked timidly with a nervous smile when he saw his lookalike staring him down.

"Why are you avoiding me?" said Asch, getting straight to the point. Luke froze for a second but quickly composed himself and gave a nervous laugh.

"Wh-what are you talking abo-"

"Don't play dumb with me," he interrupted, "you know exactly what I'm talking about because it's obvious that you are and I'm not stupid like you! For the past week straight you've been avoiding me since I got here and it's getting on my nerves every time I try to talk to you. So you better tell me why because I'm not going to repeat myself again." Luke sighed in defeat and looked away.

"I thought it would be easier for you and make you happier if I didn't bother you, since you hate me and all," he mumbled the last part sadly, "so if I wasn't around you much you wouldn't have to deal with me and be irritated with me."

"Well stop it you idiot, because you doing that is already irritating the hell out of me!" the younger boy turned back to him stunned.

"Wha?" the older boy groaned and raked his hands through his bangs in annoyance.

"Look, I made a promise to our parents and Natalia that I would try to get along with you. But you avoiding me is not helping and hearing them badgering at me about why I still haven't talked with you is bad enough!"

"Oh…I didn't realize that even without me around I was still causing you trouble, I'm sorry." He grinned humorlessly at the irony and stared at the ground ruefully. "Funny, it seems I still can't do anything right."

"Tch. Looks that way." They stood there in awkward silence for a moment before Asch spoke again. "I don't hate you." He finally said out of the blue and Luke looked up in surprise.

"What?" he sighed in irritation.

"I don't hate you." He repeated more clearly. "And for what it's worth, I don't think I ever have."

"But…why? After everything I did, how could you not?"

"I can't blame you for replacing me and taking my life because none of that was your fault, and quite frankly you didn't have a choice in the matter because you never knew. All that was Van's fault, not yours so quit with the self-loathing and inferiority complex because all you're doing is worrying everybody and making yourself miserable."

"But still, no matter how hard I try I still seem to mess up miserably. But that shouldn't be surprising since I'm still a worthless replica."

"Damn it Luke, what did I say about the inferior crap!" the younger noble recoiled at his outburst.

"B-but it's true." He insisted timidly.

"No it's not! And if I hear you say that you're a worthless replica one more time I swear, I will beat the living shit out of you until you get it through your thick skull, got it?" he stared at him stunned but hesitantly nodded. "Good. God, you are so annoying."

"I-I'm sorry."

"Don't be stupid to apologize for that. Besides, it's my fault for making you think that way and make you think I hated you. Plus I didn't give you any reason not to."

"So…you really weren't lying about that?" Asch sighed exhaustedly.

"No, I wasn't. I thought I did at one point, but Father made me think otherwise."

"You really promised them that you would try to get along with me?" he questioned in confusion.

"Did I have a choice?" he stated flatly.

"You could've just said no?" he gave him a pointed look as if saying, "Are you stupid?"

"Have you met them? Mother was this close to balling because she was soo worried about her 'baby boys' fighting. How could I say no to that?!" Luke chuckled at this.

"Yeah, I guess that was kind of redundant to ask."

"You think?"

"You never let up do you?"

"Nope." He answered bluntly.

"…So, what happens now?"

"Well for starters, we do as they ask and at least _try_ to get along."

"Then where do we start?" Asch thought on this for a minute before an idea came to him.

"You know those meetings you attend to now?"

"Yeah?"

"You mind if I join you?" the redhead was shocked at this.

"Are you sure, because you don't have to if you don't want to?" Asch raised an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Luke's eyes widened.

"What? N-no not at all, I just don't want to force you into intending them with me."

"Well you're not so there. Besides, I really am curious as to what you all discuss about in there and it's better than doing nothing here. So am I going or what?" he repeated impatiently. The younger monarch stared at him for a minute before breaking out into a large grin.

"Of course you can!" the boy was overjoyed by this, it would be the first time his big brother was interested in something he did and it's not every day that happened; hell that never happens. For the first time he couldn't wait for the next meeting.

The older monarch nodded at this. "Well then, if I'm going to attend then I'm going to need all the files in order to catch up."

"Oh right, I'll get you those first thing tomorrow. I'm sure Uncle wouldn't mind if I gave them to you." He nodded, satisfied before they were called off to supper.


	3. Ch 3

Ch. 3

The next day, Meiu woke him up and he groggily got up to get dressed for the day. He remembered yesterday's conversation and couldn't help but grin happily. After grabbing his cutlass, he opened the door and jumped back in surprise when he saw Asch leaning against the railing waiting for him. "Good Lorelei! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" he exclaimed exasperated, but the other just ignored the comment and gestured with his head towards the hall. Seeing this he immediately got the gesture and began to follow him as they walked to get breakfast.

"Master!" the two glanced back to see Meiu floating over with a stack of envelopes in his little arms. "One of the guards told me to give these to you."

"Thanks Meiu." He took the letters and scanned the backs. His face brightened when he saw whom they were from. "It's the letters from everyone! Looks like they got my messages." He continued walking as he began reading with Asch and Meiu following as the cheagle sat on his head. "Seems that they're all doing fine and are quite happy to hear you're alive."

"_All_ of them?" he inquired and his twin laughed sheepishly.

"Well they are in their own way. Tear, Anise, and Florian are the happiest but Jade and Guy...Well they're relieved but Guy is a bit skeptical and Jade is just curious as always so he might ask you some questions...and may or may not probe you."

"Uh huh, he can try but I doubt he'll succeed." Luke laughed again and Asch couldn't help but quirk into something of a smile a bit at this. Then the boy gasped and turned around to face him, walking backwards and jostling the cheagle a bit from the sudden movement. "Hey, it looks like the others will be coming to visit in a few weeks to see you!" he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"See me? Why would they want to see me?" the replica rolled his eyes, as if stating the obvious.

"Well duh, to see how you are since it's been three years since they've seen you last; they don't hate you."

"Tch. Yeah right."

"It's true! They really do care about you." He persuaded insistently.

"Fine, whatever." Luke groaned at him as he maneuvered around a maid, still walking backwards.

"Well they'll be here in a few weeks whenever they're finished with whatever work they're doing first. I can't wait! It's been awhile since they last visited."

"When was the last time you saw them?" the replica was a bit surprised that he even asked but happily obliged.

"A couple months ago really." Asch nodded at this. Then Luke saw him smirk and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not because he's never seen that look on him before. "What?" he asked, hesitant.

"So I hear you're dating Tear." He stumbled a little at this, making Meiu fall off his perch before floating beside him deeming it safer that way.

"Where'd you hear that from?"

"Natalia." He answered simply and the younger noble cursed under his breath. Asch snickered.

"Yeah we are, we just don't see each other much because of her new position as Commandant and all."

"Tear's the Commandant now?" his isofon raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Natalia didn't tell you?" he shook his head and Luke happily began to explain everything that's happened in the years they've missed while Asch for once listened as they walked into the dining room, after saying good morning to their parents before taking their seats next to each other this time and continuing with their conversation as the younger pushed a bowl of fruit towards the cheagle who happily munched on an apple slice. Their parents blinked curiously at them as their boys were actually talking to each other while eating their breakfast. It was strange seeing the pair be civil towards one another because for the past week they had not even spoken to each other and their youngest had been mostly quiet throughout the time. Now they were talking as if they have been friends for a while with Luke doing most of the talking while Asch mostly listened without complaint, asking a few questions here and a few commentaries there but none the less they were talking and they couldn't be happier with the fact, _feeling_ relieved. They were so worried that their sons would hate each other forever but now that wouldn't be the case. "Oh Mother, Father, just to let you know our friends will be coming over to see Asch in a few weeks. Is that all right?" the other redhead raised a skeptical eyebrow. _Our_ friends?

"Of course, your friends are always welcome here whenever they like." Said Suzanne.

"Thank you." He wiped his mouth with a napkin before getting up. "You ready to go?" his original nodded and started to get up as well.

"Where are you two going?" their father asked as they made their way towards the door.

"The castle," said Luke, "Asch is going to attend the meetings with me so he wanted to get caught up by looking over the files we've been going over."

"Oh, then have fun you two and be careful."

"We will." They answered back in unison before stepping out. Duke Fabre and Lady Suzanne smiled after them.

"The boys seem to be getting along quite well don't they?" Suzanne commented.

"Yes, well let's hope they stay that way; I don't want any bloodshed between my sons."

"Crimson..." As the boys proceeded on down the halls, Meiu was going to make the biggest mistake of his life.

"Asch, are you really gonna attend the meetings with Master?" asked the cheagle.

"Yes I am," he grunted out, "now shut up already."

"Are you gonna help him with the projects because he's been working really hard on them, meiu." The redhead gritted his teeth irritably.

"I don't know. Now shut your trap you stupid It, your voice is annoying!"

"Meiuuu." The blue cheagle slumped over sadly and Asch growled before grabbing Meiu by the sorcerer's ring.

"SHUT UP!" he slammed his fist on his head but when he did, Meiu squeaked and accidentally blew a plume of fire in his face making him let go as his fingers twitched. Meiu realized what he did and apologized profusely while Luke was watching the spectacle in amusement and seeing this made him remember how the exact same thing happened to him when he first met the cheagle. He bit his lip to keep his laughter in and slowly side stepped away when he saw his isofon twitch with a large tick mark on his head. "Why you...you are GONNA REGRET THAT!" Meiu flew away screaming as the angry man began to chase him around the halls. "Come back here you stupid It! When I get my hands on you, I'll feed you to the nearest liger!" Luke couldn't hold it in any longer and was in stitches. Asch paused in his chase, allowing the cheagle to live for now, as he wiped the soot off and narrowed his eyes heatedly at the redhead. "And what are you laughing at?" he questioned defensively and angrily waited for the other to control his laughter.

"It-it's just...that...that's exactly what happened to me. I...I didn't think y-you would do the same exact thing as well!" he said in between laughs and the other growled.

"I'll show you what I'll do next if you don't shut up!" he snarled out but he just laughed on and Asch's fist shook in rage. "I'm warning you Dreck, you better stop or I'll make you stop." Luke tried to hold it in with his hand over his mouth but it only lasted for two seconds when he saw the older noble's angry face and started up again. "That's it! You are dead!" Luke yelped and ducked out of the way when his twin tried to tackle him and ran down the hall, grabbing Meiu along the way as he cackled and ran away from the angry man who was not far behind. "Get back here you stupid dreck!" he retaliated by sticking his tongue out behind him. "Oh now you're gonna get it."

"Aw, I didn't know it was my birthday. What am I getting huh?" he taunted.

"My fist in your stupid face when I get my hands on you!" Luke pretended to think it over.

"Hmm...nah! You can keep it and plus, you can't call my face stupid since we both have the same face, which means your face is stupid as well!" Asch growled at his statement and picked up speed to try and catch the idiot. But the younger man just ran faster so as not to. Hearing the commotion, some maids and servants stepped out of rooms or different sections of halls to see what was going on while others were quickly moving out of the way so as not to get run over by the charging redheads. They were surprised to see their master was running away and teasing their new master who was getting angrier by the second judging by the evident snarl and the flushness on his face (either by running fast or just how angry he was) as he chased him. Getting towards the entrance, Ramdas scolded them for acting like children but they just ignored him as they barreled through the doors and practically gave the guards at the gate a heart attack from the doors slamming open and they watched them in a blur of red, white and black running towards the castle. The guards posted in front of the doors jumped back in surprise and moved out of the way as the boys ran inside the large building. "Hahaha, what's the matter Asch, am I too fast for ya?" he hollered back as they ran down the entrance and with a burst of speed, Asch caught him by the jacket, catching Luke off guard, and had him in a headlock in seconds and he smirked victoriously.

"HA! Who's laughing now huh?!" but to his disdain, the replica was still laughing.

"Apparently me still!"

"Why you-"

"Um Luke, Asch? May I ask what it is that you are doing?" the two paused and looked up to see the blonde princess staring at them in confusion.

"Oh, hey Natalia." They greeted simply, still in the same position and she blinked; not only did she walk in on them like this and to see Luke laughing, but to hear them talk in unison (especially when they have the same voice) was just mind-boggling. Luke glanced up and grinned evilly as he took this opportunity to slip out of the chokehold, surprising Asch and he cursed himself for letting him get away. The next thing they knew he was behind Natalia, who gasped in fright still not used to his newfound speed, holding Meiu like a teddy bear against his chest. Asch growled and tried to get around her to catch him again, but the boy just maneuvered around in the same direction he was going making him more frustrated. Poor Natalia didn't know what to do as she just stood there between the two like an obstacle course, turning from one redhead to the other worriedly.

"Get back here Dreck!" his isofon laughed mockingly at him.

"Why, so you can beat me up? As if!"

"Luke, I'm warning you." He cowered behind the woman.

"Natalia! Asch is being mean to me!" he rolled his eyes.

"Oh real nice, tattling to her and using her as a shield. Really mature of you." The other stuck his tongue out.

"So what? I'm eleven, deal with it!"

"Don't use that as an excuse!" he exclaimed irritably.

"It's not, it's a known fact." He commented matter-of-factly.

"Then it must be a known fact that I'm going to kill you right now!" he countered.

"It's also a known fact that you have a stick up your ass." He retaliated back.

"You little-"

"Natalia! Asch is scaring me with his mean threats!" he called with a scared-little-child expression.

"Luke!"

"Luke, Asch please, if you just calm down-"he interrupted her, stopping his movements as well as Luke.

"I will calm down once I wring his little neck!" Luke tilted his head, feigning innocents and putting a finger to his chin.

"Why? I didn't do anything wrong?" Asch growled and ran his hands through his hair furiously while Luke enjoyed every minute of this; he never knew how much fun it was to rile his original up.

"Luke," said Asch in a deadly voice, "I'm gonna give you...to the count of three. One...THREE! Get back here Dreck!"

"Can't catch me!" Luke ran off up the stairs cackling with Asch after him, leaving Natalia standing there in stunned, bewilderment at what had transpired with the sounds of laughter and yelling fading away. Then she blinked a couple times as she realized something. Did Asch just call him Luke?

TTTTT

Luke groaned as he trudged down the hall with Asch smirking, rubbing the back of his head in pain. "You didn't have to hit me so hard."

Asch rolled his eyes. "Tch. Well it serves you right." Luke stuck out his tongue. "And you better put that back where it belongs before I decide to cut it off." He threatened.

"What, like that stick?" he glared at him and the younger held up his hands. "Kidding, kidding, Yeesh." When they arrived to the large meeting room, Luke walked over to the filing cabinet and rifled through the folders before taking out all the files that he needed. Soon enough he had a moderate stack of files in his arms and happily handed them over to his look-alike. "These are all the files you need to get caught up on. Some already discussed and projects we finished but I'm pretty sure you want to get caught on them as well." Asch nodded in thanks and took the stack, glad that he was a fast reader.

"So all of these are everything that has happened in the last three years correct?" he confirmed.

"Yep, that's everything!" he said, positive and the older nodded again and sat down at the long table before taking up the first file while the other sat as well with the cheagle sitting on the table and began amusing himself with a rubber ball Luke brought for him. When he opened the first file and scanned its contents, his eyes widened briefly in surprise and glanced back up at his replica who was playing a game of pass with the It.

"You're rebuilding Akzeriuth?" Luke paused in their game and turned back to his original, letting the cheagle play by himself.

"Yeah, I thought it would be a nice way in remembrance of the town...and also, to repay for what I did." He spoke the last part in a small voice and Asch sighed.

"Luke, I told you. What happened that day was not your fault. Van tricked you into doing it. He tricked the both of us."

"You didn't think that way before." He mumbled to himself. Asch heard it but pretended not to. "But still, I was so selfish and naïve back then. If I had known more and helped out those people first and listened to you, it wouldn't have fallen and those innocent lives would have been saved." He sighed again and set aside the file for now.

"None of us would have known the outcome of that day and you can't bring yourself down about it because what's done is done and we can't change that." Surprisingly, he put a comforting hand on his shoulder and Luke glanced between the hand and Asch in slight shock but decided not to comment. "Like you said to me, you can't move forward if you keep looking back. So the best we can do is move on and do what we can to help." Shocking Luke more, he actually gave him a comforting smile, which made him smile as well because ever since he met Asch not once did he see him smile. Not even did he see him smirk or anything that resembled a smile so seeing him give one now, to him of all people, made him very happy and honored. "Besides, if you did, you wouldn't have been able to do anything because you were hypnotized not to and how you were raised into how he wanted you to."

"I know, and I made precautions on that never happening again." Asch raised an eyebrow curiously.

"How so?" Luke grinned.

"I can block out my mind to those who try it on me and I'm also able to do it as well."

"You can hypnotize people?!" he shrugged.

"Well, sort of. But yeah, we can."

"We?" Luke chuckled at his confusion.

"Where do you think I got the ability from; I certainly didn't learn it in a year. Our powers don't only consist of strength, speed, and senses you know; Lorelei's power also sees the planets memory that also means it can see into a person's memory and control their mind. At least that's the theory Jade came up with. We both have the power of Lorelei, which means it includes that you can do it too. We can't control people like Van did with me, but we can implant suggestions and can look into a person's memories and put them into a trance-like state (which comes in handy for interrogations or to spy on others). Though afterwards it drains me but that's just because I'm not used to it yet and to tell you the truth, it makes me feel guilty because I feel like I'm invading someone's privacy." The other nodded in understanding and was starting to understand at how limitless they could do with their abilities.

"Interesting, I had no idea how powerful Lorelei's power could be and how many possibilities we could do with it. What else can we do other than that?" Luke happily obliged.

"Well since Lorelei is the fonon of sound, we can also do things that involve sound."

"Liike?" he dragged out.

"Well for starters, we can cause a sonic boom by just clapping our hands together really loud or with our mouths by screaming or whistling at a high pitch frequency, and doing so can actually knock down a tree, a building, or shatter glass and can cause serious pain to the ears if we scream or whistle."

"Doesn't that cause a problem?" he shrugged.

"At first it did, but with practice I was able to control it somewhat until I finally mastered to control it a will and besides, I can only do the whistling bit if I have my fingers in front of my mouth in a specific way. For example, if we were to make a high pitch sound we would have to put two fingers in front of our mouths and whistle as high as we can against them and aim in front of our enemy to immobilize or stop them in their tracks and it is very painful to them. If we could we might even make them go deaf or kill them, though I never tried it out and quite frankly I don't want to." Said Luke, sheepishly. "We can also put people and animals to sleep by whistling softly against our knuckles and move them around as if you were playing a flute. Combining either of those with a hyperresonance, Jade thinks we could put people into a coma or obliterate them into fonons but that's just a theory and it's too risky to try it." Asch was amazed by all the information he was receiving.

"What else is there?"

"Well sound includes music, so we can play all sorts of instruments and the knowledge how to play each of them is already embedded into our heads and the concept of wielding them is the same. But I actually tried out Jade's theory on a pack of monsters and with a hyperresonance; I separated their fonons and disintegrated them. I didn't want to but I didn't have a choice because I couldn't put them to sleep and there were too many of them, so I did it on instinct. At the time I was protecting a small village and stupid me I left my sword at the inn so all I had was a flute. Now whenever I travel, I always carry around a flute or violin or sometimes even a guitar with me. And also, with an instrument I can also create things or control living things." He rubbed the back of his head, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Once in the garden, I accidentally made a tree grow from the ground and the second time I actually summoned an army of rats at the dock and they chased me all around until I told them to leave me alone and they listened."

"Like the Pied Piper." He chimed in and his replica tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Pied Piper? What's that?" he blinked in surprise.

"Didn't Mother ever read you that book?" he shook his head.

"No, Father got rid of those books so I could focus on my studies instead, but I think she stored them somewhere in the attic."

"Humph. Seems like Father...anyway, our abilities. What we can do, that's incredible." Luke nodded in agreement.

"If you want, I can help you control them because I know how hard they will be when you need to use them." Asch thought it over for a moment before shrugging.

"Eh, why not." Luke paused at this but beamed.

"Really? You'll actually let me help you?"

"They can come in handy in a fight or in a situation and what choose do I have? You're the only one that can help me because you've been using them a lot longer than I have. So is there anything else we can do?"

"Well, I don't know really. So far that's about it, but if there are I haven't discovered them yet."

"Hm, Lorelei didn't really give us much of an instruction manual to know what or how we can use them did he?"

"Guess not." Then he fiddled with his fingers nervously and the older Viscount raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Luke looked up from his hands and blinked in surprise.

"Huh...? Oh nothing, just thinking that's all."

"About what?" he waved it off.

"Ah, it's stupid really."

"No go ahead, tell me." The redhead looked hesitant to answer and he sighed. "I'm not going to judge, I swear."

"Um okay, well...can you tell me how that Pied Piper story goes? I-I've never really read any children stories before so can you tell me?" he asked timidly and watched tensely to see if he would say no or say he sounded ridiculous or childish but surprisingly, he got none of that and relaxed his shoulders. The older redhead just stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before responding.

"Tell you what, after we're finished up here, if the books are still the attic or elsewhere I'll ask Mother if we could have them for you to read. And if they're not then we'll go into the city and buy them for you."

Luke's eyes widened in shock. "You'd do that for me?"

"Why not? Despite how old you look, you're still a kid and should've read them a long time ago." Luke eyed him skeptically.

"...Asch, are you feeling all right?" he narrowed his eyes at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"N-nothing, you just seem, I don't know...a lot nicer than you were before." Asch thought on this before shrugging.

"Guess I'm just getting used to things that's all. Back when I was a God-General, I was mostly by myself and didn't really have anyone but myself. Throughout the past seven years of my life, all I've ever thought about was my past and how no one ever cared about me and thought of me as just a tool to fulfilling the Score. Then I focused all my anger on you and blaming you for everything that's ever happened to me. That's all that really mattered to me because I had nothing, so seeing myself now finally back home, I guess it's starting to catch up to me after so long of figuring everything out." Luke gave a low whistle at this.

"Wow, didn't know you could be so deep." He frowned at his teasing remark.

"Shut up! Next time I'll think twice before opening up to you again!" Luke laughed.

"First you're being nice to me, now you're opening up to me? Who are you and what have you done to my big brother?" as soon as the words slipped out he quickly regretted it and covered his mouth with his hand, his expression morphing into horror while Asch just stared and raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh god, I am so sorry! I-I didn't mean to-I know that you told me not to-"the redhead stopped his stuttering with a hand, giving mercy on the pathetic boy.

"You know what, it doesn't matter." Asch stated, sighing condescendingly. "In fact, I don't think I even care anymore."

"Huh? But you said-"

"I know what I said Luke, but it doesn't matter. I'll just have to get used to the fact that I now have an idiot little brother." At this, Luke blinked for a moment before beaming and tackling him in a hug, nearly knocking him off his seat.

"Awesome! I have a big brother now!" he exclaimed happily.

"Get off me you idiot!" he growled out and pushed him off of him, but this didn't deter Luke as he just continued grinning while the other just shook his head before returning to his files. Though in the end, he couldn't help but give a small grin as well.

TTTT

For the past three weeks, Luke and Asch had been going to meetings and training together, improving their abilities as well learning new skills. Everywhere people saw, one redhead was never without the other by his side-as if they were inseparable until it got to the point that the civilians and the staff had even started calling them the "inseparable twins" or the "twin jewels". The two just rolled their eyes when they heard this. By the first week the staff had gotten used to seeing two of their masters and since all of them already knew-or were informed about them-they began making false rumors about them whenever a person asks questions about there being two redheads to avoid suspicion for the royals. Some of them the two even had a few laughs about when they overheard, especially their personal favorites about them being "separated at birth" or "one was sick and kept secret".

At the docks, the boys were waiting for their friends to arrive by boat from Daath. Luke had a letter a couple days ago saying that they would all be visiting soon so they had waited for a notice saying a boat from Daath to arrive and Asch was starting to get impatient as he sat on a wooden post and Luke just sat on the edge, swinging his legs back and forth over the water and stared out at the ocean with a carefree smile. "What is taking so long?" his original complained and the other merely glanced up at him, slightly amused.

"Jeez Asch, didn't think you would be that eager to see them?" he teased and the older glared at him half-heartedly.

"I'm not, I just hate waiting that's all. How long do we have to wait for your friends to get here anyway?"

"Not long I hope, and by the way, they're your friends too you know." Asch scoffed and shook his head.

"No, they're your friends, not mine."

"They can be, if you let them?" he suggested but again the man scoffed and stared down at the water.

"Tch. Maybe, but I doubt they would want to be mine-not after everything I did and how I treated you." He added softly to himself. "Besides, I've never been good at making friends anyway." then he felt a warm hand on his arm and looked up from the water to a pair of kind, emerald eyes that were so identical to his but at the same time weren't and found his counterpart standing up in front of him as he gave an understanding smile.

"Asch, I told you before, they don't hate you at all-they never did and they certainly don't resent you. Sure they held grudges against you in the past but that's just it, it's in the past. Inside they really did care about you and they still do, even Jade...well, in his own way of course." He rephrased but shook his head. "But my point is that they really do want to be your friend, but every time they tried you'd always push them away and I understand why you did it, but they didn't. When you died, they did grieve sort of and were sad that they didn't get the chance to know you before they could, but when you came back they really were happy. Right now, you're alive and you need to understand that you're not alone anymore, so you don't have to push them away again. This is your chance to have friends for once and they will be your friends if you just open up for once in your life, so can you do that for me?" Asch hesitated at first before slowly nodding. "Pinky swear?" he asked and held up his pinky and the noble just stared at it in slight bewilderment.

Asch had always hated pinky swears because he always thought they were childish, even as a kid he still did. The redhead was about to scoff and turn away but paused when he saw that hopeful smile and those big, doe eyes on his look-alike's face-the one that always annoyed him because it manages to work on everyone including him, much to his irritation-and as always it still worked. For some unknown reason he can't seem to say no to it and he curses himself every time for falling for such an innocent look when clearly the boy was not innocent, but saying no to Luke with that sweet smile of his was like saying that Dist was pretty (which was unlikely so). So he begrudgingly, and quite reluctantly he might add, lifted up his pinky and wrapped it around the other's._ Just this once, this will be the only time I'll ever do this._ He promised to himself half-heartedly.

Luke was mildly surprised that he did this because he knew his original hated these things so he didn't expect him to comply, but he wasn't going to complain and just gave a bright smile. Plus if he commented about it, the redhead would most likely punch him if he did and take back the promise. The young Viscount leaned over and gave him a warm hug, catching Asch off guard slightly at the affection. "Thanks Brother, that really means a lot."

"Yeah, yeah." He sighed out before hesitantly returning the gesture, taking Luke by surprise again since this was the first time Asch had ever returned one of his hugs, but again he wasn't going to complain and just took what he could get happily. Then they let go when they heard a foghorn and turned to see a ship from Daath porting. "It's about time!" the older Viscount exclaimed irritably while the other beamed in excitement.

"Come on!" without thinking, he grabbed his twin's hand and ran towards the docks, making the other stumble and practically be dragged by his overzealous brother, again. But this time he didn't care; he was having an internal battle with himself and was becoming a little nervous. He wasn't sure how to act around the others because not once in his life had he ever opened up to anyone before, even when he and Natalia were kids he still kept her and everyone else back then at arms length with a cold demeanor. Now he was going to open up to people he wasn't sure if they liked him; the only person right now he has truly acted like himself was with Luke, but that was different because Luke already understood him and knew exactly who he really was on the inside. He was the first person that truly accepted him for who he was without question instead of judging him by his past. As much as he loved Natalia, she didn't truly understand him. She accepted him yes but not really understood him because she only thought about their past together while Luke only thought of the present, only him and not the past or the coming future and seeing and feeling how excited he was right now through their connection made his worries slightly go away and reminded him that he had made a promise to him. He will make sure the he will at the least try to fulfill it and if the others didn't accept him, then that would be fine.

They finally stopped in front of the boat, ignoring the few stares they had gotten along the way, and composed themselves, not even slightly winded because of their increased stamina and they were only a short distance from where they were before. One by one, people from different places shuffled out of the boat and Luke craned his neck over the mass until he finally spotted them walking off the platform. His eyes immediately sought out Tear and with a burst of speed, he met her half way when she put her foot down on the dock, making her gasp in surprise at his sudden appearance before composing herself and frowned up at him while he just snickered. "Luke, I told you many times not to do that to me!" she scolded but he just laughed it off and grabbed her by the waist and spun her around once, again surprising her and making her blush in embarrassment.

"But if I did that, I wouldn't be able to see how cute you look with that expression." He responded causally, making her blush more.

"Luke, put me down! People are starting to stare!" she insisted but he just shrugged.

"So what, let 'em. And might I say, you look adorable when you blush." He teased.

"Luke!"

"Ugh, fine." Then he put her down and she straightened out her uniform before smiling up at him and giving him a peck on the cheek. They heard a throat clearing and turned to see their friends smirking at them. Tear flushed slightly while Luke just laughed sheepishly. "Sorry guys."

Anise playfully rolled her eyes. "Really Luke, it's rude not to say hi to your friends first and completely ignore them while you flirt with your girlfriend."

"Right, sorry about that." He looked her over and was a bit shocked. "Wow, you've grown a lot taller since I last saw you and is that a new uniform?" She grinned proudly at this.

"Yep, sure have." And it was true, over the year Anise had gone through a major growth spurt and was now as tall as the Kimlascan Princess along with her chest (though he really wasn't looking, mind you) and her hair had gotten longer as well, though still held up in her trade mark pigtails with the ribbons. She still wore the same uniform-by her request because she had gotten so used to what she wore-though only slightly altered with the tabard being shorter at the back and the rest of it being a much darker pink and Tokunaga was no longer on her back like it usually was and instead in a satchel she carries around her waist. Around her arm was a strip of green cloth with the Order of Lorelei insignia on it that indicated one thing. The raven gave a little twirl and spread out her arms. "And it sure is a new uniform! You are now looking at the new Fon Mistress of the new Order of Lorelei." She stated happily and he was shocked as his eyes bulged.

"Seriously?! You're finally a Fon Master now?"

"Fon _Mistress_." She corrected.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she winked.

"I've just recently became Fon Mistress and I wanted it to be a surprise when I got here."

"Well congratulations Anise, I'm happy for you! Though if you ask me, I'm kind of scared at the thought of you being a leader of a new religion." He teased and she scowled.

"Hey! I resent that!" he shrugged and was about to greet the rest when suddenly he was tackled by a bundle of green and looked down to see Florian looking up at him happily and clinging to him around his waist.

"Luke!" said the green-haired boy. "I've really missed you! Did you get my letters I've sent you, did you?" the redhead smiled warmly.

"Yes I did and they were very nice."

"Yay! I'm getting very good at writing aren't I?" he chuckled at the exuberant replica who was now Tear's height and wearing Ion's old clothes still.

"Yes you are." He said and the boy let go as he cheered.

"Luke," he turned and smiled when he saw his blonde best friend who wore the clothes of a royal noble instead of his usual servants uniform, "it's great to see you're doing well. Sorry I haven't been able to visit more often."

"That's all right Guy, I'm just glad to see you." He replied as he walked over to the blonde and clapped hands with him. Then he turned to the sandy-blonde General and smiled as he shook hands in greeting. "Jade, it's great to see you. How's the fomicry research coming along?"

"It's going very well actually, thank you. And might I remind you that you need to come in soon for you're daily check up next month." Luke rolled his eyes.

"I know, I know. You don't have to remind me every time."

"Naturally I do since you do have tendency to forget things from time to time." He stated as he adjusted his glasses. "Also, would you be so kind as to bring along our dear former God-General for a check up as well?"

"Speaking of Asch, where is he?" Anise pointed out and Luke slapped his forehead.

"Crap, I totally forgot that I left him over at the front of the docks when I ran over here!"

"Like I said, you have a tendency to forget." The man taunted and he narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance.

"Shut up! One second." Then he raced off and not even two seconds later he was back only with Asch in tow as he held him by the wrist. The monarch looked at him disgruntled for being left behind and at the manhandling again before he turned his focus on the group who were staring at him, stunned into silence...well, except Jade of course who just studied him and Florian just stared in awe at how alike the two looked. He raised an eyebrow at them, getting irritated by their staring.

"What, are you all staring at?" he automatically said defensively and they came out of their trance-like state while Luke elbowed him slightly, mentally telling him to be nice.

"Sorry, it's just mind-blowing to actually see you standing there alive." Guy commented apologetically as he rubbed the back of his head. Asch scoffed and looked away, but not before noticing Jade grinning at him and he scowled suspiciously at him.

"What are you grinning about, Necromancer?"

'Asch.'

'Yeah, yeah, I know. Be nice.' He thought back but still narrowed his eyes at the sandy-blonde man.

"My, my, aren't we loving the attire today. It must be nice to dress as your mirror image." He stated sarcastically and Asch growled. At this, the others finally took notice in the older redhead's choice of clothing and their eyes bulged when they saw that the two were wearing the same outfit-save for the color combination being switched and their swords being in different spots-as they looked between the two to distinguish the other.

"Whoa!" the raven exclaimed. "If those were the same colors we would have never told you two apart at all!" the redhead groaned while the other snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. We're dressed the same, big deal!"

"Seriously, what's with the twinsies get up?"

"First off, 'twinsies' is not a word and second, who cares! Now could you shut up about the damn clothes?" he exclaimed irritably.

"Ah come on, they aren't that bad and it wasn't my idea really. Besides, you said you didn't care what you wore as long as they were clothes." The younger reminded and his isofon turned his glare on him.

"And I don't," he stated, "but if people keep on reminding me that we dress the same or even commenting about how we look adorable like this I swear, I will strangle someone!"

"All right, you don't have to bite my head off about it!" He said as he held up his hands to defend himself from the angry redhead and sweat-dropped with a nervous smile, hoping it wouldn't be him to feel his wrath. Then slowly, Florian bravely stepped up to Asch and smiled up happily at him before bowing in greeting and back up.

"You're Asch right? Luke told me that you are his original." He stepped forward and enclosed the redhead in a hug, catching the man off guard. "I'm so happy to finally meet you in person! I heard a lot of great things about you. I'm Florian, a replica of the Fon Master Ion." He let go and held out his hand while the former God-General stared at him. "I hope we can be great friends!" the noble just continued staring at him and for some reason...he couldn't help but think that he reminded him of Luke. Maybe it's because they were both replicas or maybe it's because of their child-like innocence and that he could see it in this boy's eyes that he didn't really judge him at all because he didn't know him. He didn't know him, but he accepted him still, like Luke and he couldn't help but soften his gaze at this and give him a small smile, ignoring the others surprised looks as he took a hold of his hand and shook it.

"Likewise." He replied back and Florian cheered.

"Yay! I have a new friend." He quietly chuckle in amusement.

"Okay, first the clothes, now Asch is actually smiling for once and being nice to someone? Am I dreaming or something?" Anise commented, shocked and he frowned at her.

"But in all cases, we're all glad to have you back." Tear stated as she extended her hand and he slowly shook it before taking back his hand.

"Well let's go, we can all catch up at the manor." Said Luke as he walked off with his twin and the others following behind. Through the city, the group noticed a bunch of stares and glances they were receiving, but it was mostly towards the redheads and who could blame them. First they thought there was only one noble son, now there were two of them and it wasn't like they were inconspicuous either. Meanwhile the boys just ignored them, already gotten used to it.

"So what do you guys do about rumors?" Guy asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"We just ignore them." They both responded in unison when they glanced back and they all blinked at them. Noticing their bewildered expressions, they looked at them in confusion. "What?"

"Okay, now that was just freaky." Anise commented.

"What is?"

"Seriously, could you cut it out!? It's just creepy!" they smirked, finally knowing what she was getting at.

"We don't know what you're talking about?" they feigned confusion.

"You know what I'm talking about, the whole talking in unison thing!"

"Why?"

"Argh!" she growled out in frustration and they laughed at her as they walked on, leaving a fuming Fon Mistress. The others were quite bewildered by this except for Florian since he didn't know Asch very well and Jade just had an amused grin.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." He commented.

"Why's that?" asked Florian.

"Well back then, those two didn't get along very well and seeing them talking like that is just surprising if not weird." The blonde noble explained as he watched the two ahead of them, talking idly by to each other and laughing. Strange... "Though now that I think about it, Asch does seem a bit different."

"What was he like back then?" Anise took over.

"Before, he was all silent and moody at everyone, especially towards Luke because he was his replica and some other weird reason; all dark and brooding and never stays around more than ten minutes only to yell at Luke. Now he's just...I don't know, different. He's just less grumpy and more...happy? Yeah! I think that's it. Happy really." Guy hummed in thought at this.

"Now that you mention it, this is the first time I've ever seen him laugh or smile in years. The only time I've ever saw him like this was when he was around Natalia or his mother, but even then he still didn't do it often around them. As a kid, he was mostly so serious and cold. Now he's a whole different person around Luke."

"Is that a bad thing?" the green-haired boy asked but the Malkuth noble shook his head.

"No not really. It's just strange that's all, but it isn't bad to see him happy for once...In fact, it's kind of refreshing."

"I agree," said the Commandant, "Asch really deserves to be happy for once after how life had treated him in the past and I'm quite glad that they're getting along finally."

"Yeah, I was kind of worried that they wouldn't and be at each other's throats. Well, Asch at Luke's throat anyway, but it looks like they got along surprisingly well and it's only been about a month since he came back to Baticul."

"It is quite interesting, but a lot can happen in such a short amount of time." Jade added as he also watched the two who he knew were listening in on their conversation. Suddenly, a little boy ran up to the redheads with a bright smile, bowed and back up.

"Hey there kid, is there something you need?" asked Luke.

"No, it's just something that's been on my friends and I's minds lately. I know this is disrespectful...but I was wondering if those rumors we've been hearing about you two are true or not?"

"Well that depends on what rumors you all heard." The boy became nervous as he shuffled his feet from side to side.

"Um, people said that you were his long-lost brother or that you were sick and kept secret...but a couple of my friends think you were abducted and were replaced and I was wondering if they were true." The others stiffened at this and glanced over at the twins to see how they would react. The young monarchs just stared blankly in dramatic silence before bursting out laughing and they all stared in bewilderment.

"O-okay...now that's a new one!" he commented in between laughs.

"Y-yeah, well you gotta give the kid credit. He wasn't that far off from the truth." Said Asch as he calmed down and the boy's eyes widened.

"So you mean they were true?!"

"Not entirely, I mean I was kidnapped but I wasn't replaced or anything." Asch kneeled down to his level. "You see my family had been searching for me in secret for a long time and they didn't want to worry the public about my disappearance because of what the Score said, before it was abolished, that they would have one son, so they kept my existence a secret. That way they wouldn't alert the kidnappers and take my brother too."

"So...you _weren't_ replaced but you were abducted?" he clarified and the man nodded as he stood back up.

"Yep." The boy smiled and bowed.

"Thanks for telling me Master Asch, you cannot believe how I'm gonna rub it in their faces on how wrong they were."

"My pleasure." After the boy left, the two turned to see their friends looking confused.

"Brothers?" the raven questioned.

"It's the only way to avoid suspicion." Luke explained and Jade nodded, adjusting his glasses out of habit.

"Makes sense to say that you're twin brothers since you both look-alike and the only explanation you can give to the public to avoid pandemonium."

"Yeah, but you have no idea how annoying it is to have this idiot for a brother." Asch commented, jerking a thumb to his counterpart and Luke glared at him.

"Who are you calling an idiot, Idiot?" he retorted.

"You, that's who!" he retaliated back.

"Are you trying to start something?"

"Oh please, there's nothing to start when I'll obviously kick your ass halfway across Auldrant."

"Not if I kick yours first!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" they glared at each other for a minute before they snickered and burst out laughing. "Come on, we better get going to the cable car. Hey! You guys coming or what?" he called out to them as they started to the cable car.

"Uh yeah, we'll be right there!" Guy called back as they all watched the two. "What just happened?"

"I have no idea." Said Anise, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"Really? Because it looked like they were teasing each other to me?" said Florian, confused at what they were meaning.

"I have a feeling this whole week will be interesting." Tear stated and they all nodded in agreement as they walked over to the waiting redheads.


	4. Ch 4

Ch. 4

When they got off the elevator, Luke had said something to Asch that had gotten him mad and the next thing everyone knew he was chasing Luke as he tried to get a few swings at him, but the replica just dodged them easily as he laughed and mocked him. "Luke! You better get back here right now!" the older yelled as he gave a low kick to trip him off his feet, the younger just back flipped and continued laughing.

"Why would I do that? If I did, you'd just hit me." He moved to the side from the punch that was meant for him.

"For good reason, after what you just said!"

"It's not my fault you can't take a joke!"

"Oh that tears it Dreck." At this, Luke quickly ran off with the other not far behind as they approached the walls surrounding Fabre manor and jumped or flipped over it with sound of "Can't catch me!" and "I am so gonna kill you!" while the rest watched from the sidelines, shaking their heads and the White Knights just stood there, already used to the twins shenanigans. Then something occurred to the Fon Mistress.

"Wait…did any of you hear Asch just call Luke by his name?" the blonde noble shrugged.

"Who knows, by this point I'm not even surprised anymore." They walked on following after the two (using the door) as they could still hear some yelling and laughter the closer they got and an audible shout of pain, most likely from Luke. The knights stood straighter as they approached.

"Good afternoon, Guy-I mean-good afternoon Marquess Gardios!" one of them corrected when he realized his mistake, but the servant-turned-noble just chuckled and waved it off.

"Afternoon Tom, good to see you too." Guy greeted, good-naturedly. "And you don't have to be so formal with me you know. Just call me Guy like usual." The man relaxed.

"It's still hard getting used to knowing that you're nobility and all."

"I know the feeling. I see everything is as lively here as always." Tom shook his head tiredly.

"More so than usual, especially when Master Asch and Luke keep on chasing each other and jumping around all over the place, literally."

"Seriously? They actually do this often?" asked Anise and the man turned to her.

"They definitely do Fon Mistress, but. When they aren't, the young masters would train together and always be at each other's side, as if they were inseparable."

"Wow, that's surprising. Well, good seeing you Tom." Said Guy and Tom nodded.

"And to you as well, Guy." Then they continued on inside and turned to go out to the courtyard where the two would most likely be and their presumptions were correct as they found Luke sitting on a bench, rubbing the back of his head (which was expected) with Asch standing over him with a smug grin. Then a blue ball of fur came flying towards them.

"Tear, everyone! It's so good to see you guys again, meiu!" said the cheagle, happily greeting each of them.

"It's good to see you too, Meiu." Said Tear as she petted him on the head. Then Meiu floated over to Florian and tapped him on the shoulder. Getting the picture, they began to play a game of tag around the courtyard. Then the doors opened and the Kimlascan Princess stepped out with a warm smile at the group of friends.

"Everyone, it is so good to see you all again. How have you been?" she asked as she gave them all a hug and shook the Necromancer's hand since he wasn't one for hugging.

"We've been doing fine thank you." Said Tear.

Then the blonde leaned in and whispered, "Did Asch chase Luke again?" she asked and they nodded. She shook her head in amusement. "Those two had been doing that almost everyday now and it's always the same thing. Luke makes Asch angry and Asch chases him. I think he does that for his own amusement rather than digging his own grave, though if you ask me I don't think Asch minds in the least, no matter how annoyed he looks."

"You think?" asked Anise, not sure to believe her.

"You can't say you haven't noticed the change in him in the last three years?"

"Well yeah, we have."

"In my opinion, I think you can thank Luke for that, you can only tell he's changed when he is around him."

"Well that does make sense. I mean Luke was the one that convinced Asch to stay in the first place." Said Guy.

"You know it's rude to talk about people behind their backs." They whirled around to see Luke and Asch watching them. Asch donning a face of annoyance while Luke just smirked at their surprised looks but gave worried glances at his brother. Guy smiled apologetically at them.

"Sorry guys, we were just-"

"We know." They said, the older not hiding the irritation in his voice.

"Oh right, the whole heightened hearing thing. My bad."

"And quite frankly, I don't like it when people talk about me in general like I'm not here, so at least do that when I'm _not_ around." Luke elbowed him and he elbowed back harder.

"Well sorry, but you can't really blame us, really. We were just wondering why you were acting so different." Said Anise.

"So?" he said flatly and she put her hands on her hips. "Look, if you wanted to know, why don't you just ask me instead?"

"Well okay, why are you suddenly being nice to Luke for once?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Would you rather have me be an ass towards him?" she flinched back at his harsh statement. He glared at all of them. "You know what, I don't get any of you people! First you hated how I treated Luke before. Now you're questioning why I'm suddenly being nice to him?! Make up your God damn minds already and just shut up about me being bipolar!" then he proceeded to stomp towards his room, nearly shaking the ground beneath their feet.

"Asch, hold up-"Luke called but was cut off when the door slammed. "Asch..." He stared at the door sadly as they stood in awkward silence. Then he turned around and frowned at them disapprovingly with his arms crossed. "Really guys, that was so not cool! Asch hates it when people talk about him behind his back when he's around. Cut him some slack would ya? He's trying really hard to be your friends and start a clean slate, but you making him feel insulted is not helping." They all looked down with guilt on their expressions. Well all but Jade, since he has yet to say anything since they arrived at the manor. "I'm gonna go try and talk to him. Hopefully he'll come out so try and be a bit more considerate about what you say and how he feels, especially of how sensitive his hearing is." They watched him walk off towards where they last saw the other redhead left before disappearing inside. No one said anything until Florian spoke up.

"Poor Asch." The blonde Marquess rubbed the back of his neck.

"Man, we really messed up."

"Yes, we did." The Melodist agreed. "We should apologize to him immediately when he comes out." Anise wiped a tear from her eye and nodded as well.

"Well, most of us should anyway. I, however, hadn't said such things." They all half-heartedly glared at the Necromancer. Then the door opened and they finally came out and the next thing they knew, the young Fon Mistress ran over and practically tackled the older redhead as she clung to him and cried. Asch looked down at her in surprise.

"I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to offend you or anything!"

"Uuh..." he responded dumbly and patted her head, feeling a little awkward since he wasn't really good at these sorts of things and looked to Luke for help. But the other just grinned in amusement. No help from him there. Soon, they all stepped up to him.

"We all feel really terrible for not considering how you felt; we weren't thinking." Said Tear. Guy put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Oh Asch, I am so sorry! I've should've known better." Exclaimed Natalia.

"Okay, OKAY! I get it! You're all very sorry and you're forgiven, now could you all PLEASE just back away? I need personal space!" he stated desperately, hating how everyone was so close to him and they gave him some room to breathe. He sighed in relief. "Look, why don't we all just forget all about this little incident and we can all go on with our lives." He suggested and when he saw that they were about to interject, he shot them a look and they immediately shut up. Then everyone jumped slightly when Luke clapped his hands and he was glad that he got their attention.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way. Why don't we all go to the dining area for some lunch shall we, since I'm probably sure none of you had a decent meal in a while on the way here." They smiled at this. Trust Luke to be able to save the day.

"I can agree to that!"

"Yes, I agree as well."

"Why not."

"What a perfect idea!"

"Lunch would suffice."

"Yay, food!"

"Come on, I'll ask the cooks to whip us up something." Luke offered as he led them towards the drawing room.

TTTTTTT

Laughter resounded all around the drawing room as they all ate their food the chefs made for them and shared stories. "Wait, wait, you really fell for the old moving-gald-gag?" Luke exclaimed in amusement and disbelief, laughing at the raven's expense who was completely embarrassed.

"It was moving money, I couldn't just let it get away!" she argued pathetically, trying to save her dignity but knew it was a lost cause. He proceeded to pound his fist on his armrest in hysterics.

"And who was the one that did the prank?" she glanced over at Florian ruefully and his grin faded as his eyes turned into saucers, shocked along with everyone else. "No...no! You?!" the boy shrugged sheepishly.

"Guilty." Hearing this, not only did he go into stitches but also everyone else was, the whole idea just incredibly funny. Jade grinned.

"My, I didn't think you had a devious mind at all, my boy." He teased and the boy flushed, a bit embarrassed.

"Well, Anise loves gald, so I was just wondering what would happen if I put one on a string and I did." The redhead applauded.

"Well that was genius! In fact, it was almost as funny when I was helping Asch with his powers and-"

"Don't even _think_ about finishing that sentence." Asch warned from across him and the younger smirked deviously and leaned on his elbow with his chin on his palm.

"You see, we were in the garden and we were doing our usual training sessions."

"Luke, I'm warning you. Do not, I repeat, do not say the rest."

"The rest. Anyways, I was helping him practice controlling the flute and what notes to play-"

"Luke, I swear to Lorelei. I will murder you right here, right now if you say anything else."

"Anything else. And when he played a wrong note, he-"

"LUKE!"

"..."

"Thank you."

"...he made a flock of seagulls chase him all around the garden until he had to hide out in his room." Asch stood up, almost knocking the chair over with a screech.

"That's it Dreck! C'mere!" his replica quickly leapt out of his seat and ran in circles laughing around the table, away from his angry sibling while everyone else just laughed at the scene. Asch finally caught up to him and tackled him to the ground and they tussled around until Asch pinned him down by sitting on his back, giving him a noogie.

"Ow, ow, OW!"

"I warned you!"

"Boys!" at the sound of the booming voice, they all turned to see Duke Fabre and Lady Suzanne at the front door; His Grace staring disapprovingly at his sons. "This is not dignified behavior towards your guests." The two Viscounts quickly scrambled up and straightened themselves, but not before giving each other playful shoves. "Boys!" they flinched.

"Dear, it's fine. Let them have their fun with their friends. After all, they don't seem to mind." Said Suzanne, gently and her husband sighed.

"As always, you spoil them Suzanne."

"Oh hush!" then turned her attention to the boys. "Luke, Asch, we came to tell you that your weapons and combat instructor is here." They tilted their heads in confusion.

"Huh? Already? But today's not a training day is it?" Luke questioned. She shook her head.

"No, she came early because she won't be able to come again next month."

"Why's that?"

"Urgent family business it seems. Now after you've finished eating you should go straight to the courtyard and not keep her waiting. Lesly is only here for an hour." She instructed and they nodded.

"Yes Mother." They said but after their parents left the room, the two exchanged suspicious looks before sitting back down with the others.

"So Asch, how do you like Lesly so far?" Guy asked.

"She's a good fighter I'll give her that. But even though I've only met her once, I don't trust her."

"Why? Is it because you don't know her or you just don't like her for some reason?"

"Well that, yes. But for some reason, something seems off about her."

"How so?" asked the Melodist, joining in on the conversation.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" asked Anise.

"I could be wrong, it's just a hunch but I could just very well be paranoid. I don't know, what do you think Luke?" he asked, turning to his younger brother for his opinion.

"Well...I agree with you on there. Something does seem off about her ever since I met her and I don't really trust her all that much either. I mean, every time I turn my back when she's here I feel like she's glaring at me for some reason, though I could be imagining things." The blonde Malkuthian dropped his fork and looked at him incredulously.

"What! Why didn't you say anything?" he demanded and the other held his hands up.

"I-I didn't want to worry any of you and cause trouble if my assumptions were wrong, so I kept quiet about it and did a covert investigation on her myself until Asch joined in to help. After Van, you can see why we would be suspicious." Then Asch continued from there.

"So far, all we've found out is that she teaches at an academy for those who are training to be Oracle Knights and started working there two years ago. But, what our mother said earlier had caught our interest. She said that she had urgent family business but according to what we've looked, that's a lie."

"Her transcript says that she has a family over in St. Binah and were helping out with the community on rebuilding the city, but what the records say is that they were dead before Eldrant. The rest is blank."

"Luke! You should've told us this sooner." Tear reprimanded.

"Yeah Luke, I could've helped you out by giving you all the information you needed from Daath." The raven exclaimed.

"Like I said, I wanted to be sure before we start coming to conclusions, so we thought we would just give her the benefit of the doubt."

"Now we see that we don't have to anymore." Asch added.

"General, did you know about this as well?" Natalia demanded, also outraged that she never knew and that neither of them told her. The blue-clad man, who had yet to say a word throughout the discussion and had not expressed any sort of emotion from the news, brought his glasses to the bridge of his nose before speaking.

"I suspected as much and confronted Luke about it the last time I came to Baticul, so yes. I knew and assisted him on the investigation a bit by giving him the Intel he needed."

"Why didn't you tell us immediately after?"

"I was asked to keep it tight lipped so as to not arouse suspicion and that the less people that knew the better." He stated simply and she sighed.

"Well regardless of what reasons, you should've informed us. All three of you."

"We already got this handled Natalia," said Asch, "we're trying to get close to her and see what she's up to so you don't need to get involved."

"But we want to help, we're your friends and you're our friend too Asch, so you shouldn't do it alone." Guy insisted.

"I want to help too!" Florian chimed in. He didn't really understand much of this but if his friends were in trouble then he wanted to help as much as he could.

"Asch, I think it would be best if we let them help us. It could cover more ground and I don't want to do this on our own anymore." Luke insisted pleadingly and Asch sighed before conceding to his brother's wishes.

"Fine, do whatever you want. Just don't try to make it obvious to her on what we are doing." They all agreed and got up from their seats to head towards the door. Just when the twins were about to head out first, Jade stopped them.

"Oh and boys, do change back please?" he grinned when they froze in mid-step. Everyone else just stared at him in confusion.

"Huh? What are you talking about General?" asked the Fon Mistress.

"I'm surprised you had me going this long." He mused, not really listening to the others' questions on what he was meaning and eyed the two humorously. "Having fun you two?" they all raised eyebrows at him and turned to see the young monarchs' shoulders shaking and snickering. It took only one glance at the group behind them and they immediately lost it, making everyone but Jade more confused.

"That was brilliant! I can't believe that we actually pulled it off! I didn't think it would work at all!" Luke exclaimed in between laughs.

"Luke? What worked?" asked Tear.

"Yes, do explain to the rest of the class, Asch." The man inquired slyly and they turned to him in shock.

"What?!" they all shouted in disbelief before looking between the two. "Luke" smirked, who was actually Asch in Luke's clothing, as he gave a mocking salute to them while the real Luke had an identical smirk as well.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you telling me that Luke is Asch and Asch is Luke?" the raven clarified.

"Precisely, a clever trick you two concocted." Jade commented.

"As always, you're as observant as ever." Luke mused as he leaned an arm on his original's shoulder. Asch just narrowed his eyes slightly in annoyance but didn't show any signs of removing it as he looked back over to the group's flabbergasted expressions and the grin returned.

"When?" Tear demanded, flushing in embarrassment when she realized she might have kissed Asch's cheek instead of Luke's. Please let it be the latter.

"Since we jumped over the wall." The older answered and she sighed in relief.

"So this whole time you guys had been each other." Guy stated and they nodded proudly at their accomplishment. "Man, you guys are good! I didn't even suspect that you two even switched places."

"We've had practice over the month, so we wanted to see if you knew which one of us is who and it was a great way to see how well you knew us and to see how you think of us."

"Plus we were bored and were wondering how well we could pull it off and so far, no one here at home even suspected a thing. Though we shouldn't be surprise that it was Jade to figure it out first." The younger finished.

"But how can you guys pull it off so well when it's only been a month since Asch came back?" Anise questioned, still in disbelief at their trick.

"Luke is a replica of Asch and they both have a bond, so it would make sense and make it easier for them to switch. And in that span of time they would have to study each other's habits very closely for them to make it believable. And for that, it would take lot of dedication and hard work to do." The General explained matter-of-factly.

"But still, Asch was really angry with us earlier!"

"I was just voicing out what he wanted to say." Answered Luke.

"And Luke was embarrassing Asch!" she insisted.

"What? You think I wouldn't embarrass myself? If I didn't than it would give me away because Luke takes every opportunity to embarrass me, much to my annoyance." Asch directed the last comment to Luke and the other stuck his tongue out at him. Asch reciprocated with a smack to his head in return.

"Well..." they laughed and high-fived each other and she pouted. "Boo, you guys are mean."

"Hey, don't look at me! Believe it or not, it was actually Big Brother's idea." She tilted her head bemused before a whistle was heard and she directed her attention to the other redhead who grinned devilishly, waving his fingers at her and pointed to himself.

"Guilty." He stated, using Florian's line and they all gaped (excluding Jade of course).

"YOU came up with it?!" Guy exclaimed, stunned.

"Yep."

"Wow, never took you for the pranking type?"

"Don't you mean fun in general?" Anise added.

"Hey!" he protested. "I'll have you know, when I was still a God-General, Sync and I would prank the Reaper all the time." His isofon brightened at this.

"Oh yeah! You told me about that one time when you put hair gel and glue in Dist's hair so that it would spike out everywhere." Asch laughed at the memory.

"Yeah, and when he tried to wash it out, his hands got stuck in the process and it stayed that way for a whole week!" the blonde swordsman found this hard to believe.

"You used to prank Dist?"

"Yep, and you will not believe the pranks I pulled on him." Then Meiu floated over to him and stared at his face closely, making him scowl at the cheagle. "Get out of my face It." He growled out and Meiu smiled.

"Nope, you're not Master." He stated happily.

"No, I'm not. Now get out of my face before I smash yours into the ground." They all sweat-dropped as the poor thing squealed in terror and hid in Luke's hair. Luke chuckled and comforted Meiu as he and his look-alike made their way towards the door. When he opened the door for him, Asch looked back with an amused grin. "Oh, and those looks on your faces? Beautiful." The two laughed at his statement as they walked out and closed the door behind them, leaving them baffled.

"...What just happened?" asked Anise and Guy groaned.

"I think we just got pranked by Asch of all people. But I do know that I will never understand those two."

Jade sighed dramatically. "And to think that only one was tiresome enough." But he won't complain since it was so hard to find good entertainment these days, he mused with a grin.

TTTTTTTTT

When they walked back out to the courtyard-after processing in their minds at what had just happened- they found the young Viscounts chatting with each other as they picked up different weapons that were set out for their training and were explaining different battle techniques with them to each other. Then they sweat-dropped again when they witnessed Asch threatening Meiu again, but when he didn't shut up the redhead proceeded to grab a battle-axe and chase the poor cheagle around with it while Luke just laughed at the display. It looks like they changed back, but it was so mind-boggling to see how the original acted towards the cheagle so much like Luke used to; it was kind of funny actually. Then the boys paused when they saw their friends approach them. "Tch. Took you guys long enough." The older scoffed out impatiently, still annoyed with the blue fur-ball as he leaned on the axe which looked pretty heavy but it wasn't that surprising to see him swing it around as if it weighed nothing, with his enhanced strength and all.

"Sorry about the wait." Said Natalia. Then the blonde Marquess stared at the young monarch and titled his head, eyeing him curiously and the redhead narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.

"What?" said Asch, not liking being scrutinize, then realized that Guy was eying the axe he was leaning on with interest and smirked mischievously. So he stepped up to him and grabbed Guy's hand, the man becoming surprised at the action, held his palm out and handed him the weapon but didn't let go just yet. Guy stared at him in confusion.

"What are yo-WHOA!" the second Asch let go, Guy's arm dropped like a stone at the sudden weight of the axe, not really prepared for it to be that heavy. He crouched down and tried lifting it up by using both hands but he only got it up to his shins. "Holy Lorelei this thing weighs a ton!" he exclaimed in a strained voice. In the background, he could hear Luke cracking up and he looked up to see the other grinning from ear to ear in amusement, his eyes glinting evilly. Guy glared at him. "Oh ha ha, very funny." The older shrugged.

"Actually, it kind of is." Then he took back the weapon, thankfully relieving him of his burden, and swung it over his shoulder with just one hand. Guy rolled his eyes.

"Smug bastard." He retorted as Asch put down the weapon with the rest.

"Wait, are you Asch or are you Luke?" the raven questioned suspiciously and they snickered. Then they began to switch facial expressions. Luke taking on a gruff, cocky look while Asch's features softened.

"I don't know. Am I Asch-"

"-Or am I?" then they switched again. "We could be wrong though. Maybe I'm Luke and he's Asch-"

"-Or that he's Asch and I'm Luke?"

Guy sighed. "Really Luke?"

"Yes?" they both answered and the princess put her hands on her hips.

"Asch-"

"What?" Anise pulled on her pigtails in frustration.

"Argh! Would you stop that, you're messing with my head!" they laughed, having had their fun.

"Don't worry guys," the real Luke assured, "we switched back before you came out here."

"How do we know for sure?" asked the green-clad boy and they shrugged.

"Who knows?" was their only response. Then everyone turned to the Necromancer.

"Come on Jade, tell us how'd you know." The raven begged and the man grinned.

"Well it's simple really, it's all based on a matter of science. Asch blinks about fifty-three seconds faster than Luke."

"Really?" Anise, Natalia, and Florian said and they turned to stare them closely who both blinked in confusion before going into stitches.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're kidding or not." Guy groaned, putting a hand to his head.

"That's what I'm wondering as well." They all jumped at the unexpected voice and turned to see a woman that looked about in her late-twenties walking towards them. She bowed before them courteously. "Marquess Gardios, it's a pleasure seeing you again. And to you as well Fon Mistress and Your Highness." She politely said then straighten up and saluted to the Malkuth General and Commandant. "General Curtiss, Commandant Grants, good to see you as well. I really didn't expect to see you all here." She said, surprised but there was something in her voice that caught the boys' and Jade's attention but couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. Almost sounding like annoyance. Meanwhile, the others didn't seem to really notice.

"It's good to see you as well Lesly. We came here to see Asch." Tear responded to the Oracle Knight instructor. Lesly gave a polite, kind smile at them. She was of average height with black hair tied up in a ponytail with the hair spiked out behind her head. As always, she wore black attire that was quite similar to those of a female ninja (**AN: Yeah I know; lame**) with a katana strapped to her back and a small pack strapped to her left thigh that was filled with kunia and shurikens. Other than her porcelain skin, her eyes were the most unusual that were the color of a fiery orange. Her stature looked frail but to all those she's trained would think otherwise. As an instructor, not only is she skilled in weaponry but also very skilled in hand-to-hand combat training, fighting styles, and point technique to disable an enemy, which meant she was very intelligent and was a force to be reckoned with. Luke walked up to her with a polite smile of his own with Asch in tow and his usual scowl.

"Afternoon Lesly, what are we training today?"

"Ah Luke, good afternoon. Asch, good afternoon to you as well." She greeted but he just regarded her with a cold stare before crossing his arms and turning away. "Right then, since we only have a short amount of time. Everyone but the twins, please clear the area." They made their way over towards the benches and sat down or on the floor to watch. "Today we'll go over spear and lance technique. Then we'll move on to martial arts. Asch," she directed her attention to the elder sibling, "has Luke been any help to you in either of those departments?"

"Yes." He answered curtly.

"Good, and are you progressing fine. Because catching up with your brother must be very difficult since he's farther along in the training."

"He's helping me just fine. I'm a fast learner so I'll catch up eventually." He gritted out through clenched teeth.

'Asch, calm down.'

'I know.'

"Well both of you take out your spears and let me see some demonstrations on how far you've learned. Luke, why don't you start?" he stepped up and summoned his spears. "Now, not only are they excellent for throwing, but they are also excellent for defense and close combat than just for launching. So I want you to show me a fighting stance and what happens when an enemy is charging." He complied and went into a fighting stance before putting the spears in front of him as if he were blocking an attack. "Now attack." Luke sliced and slashed upwards gracefully and using his feet, he spun and swung around. "Good work, but your form is a bit sloppy." The boy looked down and smiled sadly. "Asch, you're up." She announced and the younger took a few step backs for his older sibling. Asch then stood in the middle and summoned a pair of identical spears like Luke's.

"Hold up! So Asch has the same spears and is ambidextrous too?" Anise pointed out from where she sat in between Guy and Natalia.

"Yeah?" the twins replied questionably and raised eyebrows at her. The young woman crossed her arms and pouted.

"Boo, there goes my idea of how to tell you guys apart." She muttered out and they snickered. Then she brightened when another idea came to her. "Oh wait! Now I know how to tell you guys apart!" she ran up to the two and the next thing they knew, she grabbed both their locks of hair-tugging them down much to their confusion and annoyance-and compared them to each other. She looked between them and frowned before letting go. "No way! How is that even possible?!"

"Anise, what's wrong?" asked Florian.

"Did you guys dye them?" she questioned to the two.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked Luke, now more confused.

"Did you or did you guys not dye your hair? And don't lie!" she added.

"N-no, we didn't!"

"Then how do you explain the color, huh?"

"What the hell are you talking about dying? Our hair has always been this color." Said Asch, getting irritated.

"No it hasn't, not exactly!"

"Anise, could you please enlighten us on what it is exactly you are talking about?" asked Natalia, just as confused as everyone in the courtyard. She turned to the others and pointed at the two.

"Their hair! Can't you see it?" they looked closely for a moment but found nothing and shook their heads.

"Not really, they look the same to us?" said Tear.

"Exactly! They are the exact same shade of red!" she exclaimed, but they just became more confused.

"What do you mean? Weren't they always the same color?" asked Guy and she groaned.

"No, they weren't! They were red, yes, but they weren't the exact same shade. Jeez, I expected this for men not to notice but you girls, really? Do I have to spell it out for you all?!"

"Apparently so." Jade responded simply and she glared at him.

"First of all, their hair weren't the same shade of red and second. Luke's hair was bright red with gold tints while Asch's hair was blood red. Don't you guys remember? Look closely, their hair colors are exactly the same and aren't those colors anymore; now they're just red!" they all thought on this until they realized that she was right. The boys looked at their hairs in wonder.

"You know, now that I think about. Your hairs were different, just never really noticed." Guy commented, the group nodding in agreement and Anise turned to the boys with a smug grin and pointed an accusatory finger at them.

"Ha! See? You guys did dye your hair!"

"Anise, we didn't dye our hair." Said Luke.

"Then explain the color." She questioned, not believing him.

"I-I don't know! Maybe Lorelei did something when we came back?" he suggested and she didn't look convinced.

"This is just nuts! First your wardrobe, then your hair-WAIT!" she stopped short, making the redheads pause apprehensively.

"What is it no-WAH!"

"HEY!" she suddenly grabbed both of them down by the shirts with surprising strength and examined their faces closely before letting them go, completely frustrated and baffled as she tugged on her pigtails with a growl. They both straightened their clothes, Asch not liking how another person suddenly grabbed him roughly.

"ARRGH! I just don't get it!"

"Great, now what are ya on about?" said Asch, feeling annoyed and disgruntled.

"Damn it, I was sure that I had you guys. Everything about you guys are EXACTLY the same right down to the last detail, even your eyes!" she exclaimed.

"Wait, I'm confused. I thought it was our hair?" said Luke but she shook her head.

"No, it's not just your hair or clothes. It's _everything_ else! Well, except your personalities but whatever. Your eyes used to be a different shade of green too, but now they're the same shade of emerald green." They all sweat-dropped.

"...You know it's kind of scary how you know the exact details of our features." The younger stated, the older agreeing.

"No kidding." They heard a throat clearing and turned to see Lesly staring at all of them blankly and tapping her foot, looking impatient.

"Pardon me Fon Mistress, but if you are finished I would like to get back to the lesson." She stated in a monotone voice and the raven chuckled nervously.

"Uh sorry." She sighed sadly and walked back to her seat next to Guy and slouched into it with a pout and her arms crossed. "Damn, I thought for sure I finally had those two." She muttered and Guy chuckled and patted her head sympathetically.

"Well, it was a good try."

"Um," they turned to the green-haired boy, "what does ambidextrous mean?"

"Means that they can use one hand as well as the other." He explained.

"Aah."

"All right Asch," they all turned back to watch the training, "I want you to do what Luke just demonstrated." Lesly instructed and he nodded and did exactly what his replica did. "Very good, it seems you have been practicing. You must be a natural." He scoffed under his breath as he brushed off the compliment.

'Natural my ass.'

'But it's true.' Luke insisted.

'Tch, as if. I've only gotten better because you helped me everyday. More than she could.'

'Still, you're better at it than I am. After all, you're the original and I'm-'

'Don't you DARE say that again! I told you to never say I'm better than you just because I'm 'the original'. BULL CRAP! And how many times do I have to tell you to quit feeling inferior to me?! After all, you're the one that told me that you and I are different.'

'But it's true! It took me a month to get it right and I'm still sloppy as she said.'

'Like I said, I'm a fast learner and what the hell does she know! You've worked hard to get where you are and I'm still not even close to that yet.'

'I've had a year and you've only had a month since you've been back.'

'Luke, it doesn't matter how many reasons you give me. Now drop it.'

'But-'

'Luke.'

He sighed, conceding. '...Fine.'

'Good. I was this close to smacking you.'

'Shut up.'

While this whole conversation was going on, their instructor had not even noticed as she just looked around at the weapons while everyone else knew what they were doing. They demonstrated a few more training techniques for the next ten minutes and every now and then Lesly would comment on both of them. Mostly compliments to Asch and advice to Luke on seeing what he did wrong. "Well done, Asch. I think you might have your brother beat." Asch gritted his teeth and made a tight fist.

'Bullshit!'

'Asch-'

"Bullshit." The three turned when they heard the Malkuth noble and saw that he was glaring at the female instructor, voicing out Asch's thoughts. Lesly stared at him, expression blank.

"Is there something the matter Marquess Gardios?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact there is." He replied steadily as he strode over to her. "Luke and Asch demonstrated what you've told them to do all exactly the same, but you made it look as if Luke is doing everything poorly when clearly he's not and has been training the longest. The only reason Asch is able to do them as well as Luke because Luke has been helping everyday. They do them exactly the same way, yet you obviously praise Asch the most and put down Luke while at the same time comparing them to each other!" at this point, his voice was raising slightly, almost yelling and shocking everyone.

'Guy.' The two thought, Asch more in astonishment and Luke feeling grateful for his words. Trust Guy to always understand what's wrong and stick up for them. Lesly just stared up at him evenly.

"I'm only criticizing Luke to encourage the both of them to work harder. This is how I teach all of my students and if you don't like it, then by all means tell me. How do you suggest I teach them instead?" she challenged but the blonde noble didn't even miss a beat in his answer.

"You can start by not comparing them to each other and treat them equally rather than a piece of trash or a child that needs praising when they clearly don't want any of that, if you didn't notice their expressions every time you do."

"Guy, it's all right really." Said Luke.

"No it's not Luke, now I've put up with her way of teaching for a while already but enough is enough. Now that Asch is back home, I can plainly see how she really treats you and who her favorite is. She criticizes you no matter how hard you try and it still doesn't please her while she says nothing but good things to your brother instead of treating him in the same manner when he clearly hates it, especially when he hears saying he's better than you, and he's only been back for a month! You should be the one she should be acknowledging for what you do and all the time and effort you've helped each other train."

"But-"

"No Luke," he swiveled his attention back on the woman, "he's right. I shouldn't be so hard on you when you clearly didn't need it. You have been working really hard in your training and I can honestly see you're helping your brother to catch up so I'm sorry for not saying anything. And it was careless of me to compare you with him, please forgive my rudeness for not realizing it sooner." Then she turned to Guy. "All right, I'll take up on your advice from now on." He nodded in gratitude and returned back to his seat. For the rest of the hour, they all watched as the monarchs trained-glad to see that Lesly had indeed taken up Guys advice and now treated them equally. It was interesting to watch the twins fight together and against each other; not only did they mirror their movements exactly but also they were completely in sync with one another. They knew what the other was thinking (literally) and knew what and how to anticipate each other's moves.

"I don't understand," said Florian, "how can they know what the other is doing like that and work together so well when you all told me that they didn't get along at first?"

"They fight the same style." Jade explained. "Even though Asch has trained in the Albert style the longest, Luke and him are connected with each other so it is only natural for them to anticipate and know each others movements before striking."

"And because of that connection they share, they know what they are thinking and feeling. That's how they can fight in perfect sync and mirror each other so well." Tear added.

"But isn't that cheating?" the boy pointed out. Jade re-adjusted his glasses.

"In a sense yes, but in battle no. When you fight for your life a person needs to use any possible means to win and survive. With them, it could come in handy when one needs a quick plan but does not want the enemy to know what they are trying to do and also to know where the other is and needs assistance."

"Plus, what better training partner is there than to have yourself as one who can keep up with you and copy your moves exactly. And to one up on them when they least expect It." the Fon Mistress chimed in.

"Oh. So...if they know what the other feels, does that mean they know when they are in pain?"

"What do you mean?" Natalia inquired.

"Like physical or mental pain. Can they feel that too?" they paused as they thought this over, it never even occurred to them if one could feel the other's pain.

"It is quite possible," said the General, "but it is also possible for one to block the other out so one brother wouldn't suffer as well."

"I see. You guys told me that Luke used to get headaches because of Lorelei and since their connected, wouldn't that mean Asch had them as well?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe, but if he did he never told us." Said Guy as he continued to watch the twins spar in close combat with each other. He knew they were listening in but didn't want to call them out because they didn't want to reveal their powers to Lesly or the fact that Luke is a replica since they couldn't trust her. So they all watched on until they said their good-byes as she left.


	5. Ch 5

Ch. 5

"Hey Brother, you want to work on the guitar next?" Luke asked after Lesly left.

"Oh! I want to hear you guys play!"

"Me too!"

"No." Asch answered bluntly.

"Please! You need to practice your abilities everyday if you want a better handle on them. What, are you embarrassed that you might cause something on accident or the fact that you don't want them to hear you play?" he teased. The older frowned.

"Of course not, you idiot!"

"Then you shouldn't have a problem playing."

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pleease!" he dragged out, giving him the look and Asch twitched. God dammit! The redhead groaned as he rubbed his head with his hand in irritation.

"Ugh, fine." He conceded and Luke grinned.

"Works every time." Asch growled and swung a fist at the dreck, but Luke just laughed and danced out of the way as he ran off to retrieve the instruments. He grumbled under his breath and rubbed his temples with his index finger, feeling a headache coming on. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the others snickering.

"What are you all laughing about?" he grunted out.

"You actually fell for the 'Luke look'?" Anise giggled out

"Oh he does, every time Luke uses it on him it always works no matter how hard he tries, so Luke uses it every chance he gets." Said Natalia, very amused. "Asch may act tough but we all know that he is just a big softy."

"Shut up!" he retorted and blushed slightly as Luke came back with two guitars in each hand. He handed him the right-handed guitar and he took it.

"It's best if we do it in the garden, that way it would be easier to repair than granite if something does happen." He explained to the others and they saw no reason to object as they all made their way towards the large garden.

"Really Luke, you guys really do have a beautiful garden." Florian commented as he looked around in a full circle, awed.

"Yeah, but it looked better when Pere was still working here. By the way Guy, how is he?"

"He's doing okay, getting old but yeah."

"Pere?" the other redhead asked.

"You remember him, right? He was that old man that did the garden." Luke answered as they sat by the fountain while everyone else sat around them.

"...Oh yeah, nice old guy. But Father didn't allow me to associate with him because of his status."

"Sounds like him." He commented and took off his gloves to play better, Asch doing the same. They both adjusted their guitars until they felt that they were tuned where they wanted. Asch was amazed at how easily he knew what to do and what each note sounded right in his head since he never even picked up a guitar let alone an instrument; he even knew some notes to songs he never even heard of but they were all there in his head, ready to be played and he knew how to play them without memorizing a song sheet. As a child, he never even had the time to do things that he wanted to do because he always did what was expected of him, not even as a God-General did he have time. But now he could play any instrument without even trying, as if he played his whole life and he never once practiced or even looked at a song sheet. "All right, ready Asch?" he shook out of his thoughts and turned back to the task at hand. Strange how he was doing that more and more often, zoning out like that. He nodded and his counterpart began to explain to him what each individual note and chord can do and how to suppress the fonons.

Their friends watched with interest, seeing Luke actually teaching Asch of all people something. The fact that seeing Luke teaching anyone for that matter was strange enough. "Right now, if you strum this cord here it'll cause anything around you to fall asleep, so you have to try to suppress the fonons and focus your energy on it because if you aren't careful and some of that leaks out or you lose control, you could actually put someone into a coma or just knock them out for a few days. Don't worry, I'll make sure that won't happen." He added quickly when he noticed the worried look on his original's face. "Just focus on the notes and the fonons and you will be fine." He did as he was shown and began to strum a sweet melody while at the same time trying to suppress the fonons. It was a lot harder than it looked and it practically drained him little by little from how much concentration it took. "Good, now try to do the first three cords of the song." Again he did as he was instructed and began strumming. By the time he finished, he was already tired and wiped some sweat off his forehead. Luke put a hand on his arm worriedly. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He replied in a strained voice. The young monarch gave him a comforting smile and he smiled tiredly back.

"Why don't we take a break for now and we'll get back to where we left off after." He suggested and his original couldn't agree more because he was that exhausted. "You'll get used to it later." He assured.

"Luke, can you play a song for us, please?" asked the younger replica, the others voicing out their agreements.

"Sure." Finding the right strings, he began to play a nice melody. It was soothing while at the same time beautiful and upbeat and he did all this with a soft smile, his eyes closed. The only indication that he was concentrating was his eyebrows knitted slightly but other than that, he was having no trouble playing. Asch knew he was concentrating really hard and was getting a little tired, but this was a _full_ song and he couldn't help but admire and feel a little jealous how strong he was getting. Even though Asch was new at all this and Luke had more time to control his abilities, but still. He could barely keep himself from fainting by just playing three cords and Luke was doing a full song. Luke really was truly amazing. He applauds with the others when he finished the song.

"That was wonderful, Luke." Tear complimented.

"Thanks." He replied, as he was just about to put his guitar down when he suddenly dropped it and froze, surprising everyone.

"Luke, what's the matter?" Guy asked, concerned but he didn't respond as his face became pale and his eyes wide as if he were in a trance, his hands trembling. They turned to Asch to ask him what was wrong only to find that he just as confused and worried as they were but also suspicious as he glanced around the area, sensing something was wrong. Then their expressions became pained and they held their heads, but Luke was covering his ears as if he was hearing something painful. Now they were scared.

"Guys, what's wrong? What's happening?" Anise frantically questioned, panicked. But they didn't even indicate that they even heard her as to whatever it is was apparently blocking them out. Whatever they were hearing (or in this case Luke was hearing and Asch was just being along for the ride) was hurting them. Just when it looked like it was about to get worse, it abruptly stopped and they began to relax.

"Are you two all right?" they nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But Luke was the one who is in more pain than me. You all right?" Asch asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fi-ARRGH!" they both yelled out and they immediately clutched their heads, this one much worse than the last as it suddenly just crashed down on them. Luke was in more pain than his brother as he thrashed his head from side to side and was practically close to wanting to claw out his ears from the looks of it. Everyone voiced out their concerns, not knowing what to do and how to help them since they didn't know what was causing them so much pain. The boys slid off the stone bench and dropped to the ground, sweating profusely from how much pain they were in. Luke was on his knees with his head down and Asch kneeling as well as he clutched at his head, trying to resist the pain and cracked a pained eye at his little brother.

"Luke." He strained out through gritted teeth.

"Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" he screamed, desperately wanting for whatever it was to stop. None of them knew what to do to help and they hated feeling helpless as they stood panicking for their friends. Luckily, Jade finally figured out what was going on and calmly walked up to the tanned haired Commandant.

"Tear, I need you to put up a barrier around us."

"What? But why?"

"Just do it." he ordered urgently and she looked up at him unsure but nodded.

"Understood." She gathered herself and concentrated. "_~Kuloa riou zwe tue riou lei neu riou zwe~_" she sang and immediately a glass domed-like barrier surrounded all of them and as soon as it did, the twins dropped their hands simultaneously and panted, leaning on them barely for support. The group let out a sigh of relief and Natalia began to fuss at them, but Asch just waved her off and crawled over to Luke. He was more concerned about his little brother than about himself right now. Poor Luke was panting the heaviest. Once he was in front of him, he held up his face gently with his hands to his level to examine him and wiped his forehead of perspiration. Then began to rub his temples in soothing circles even though he was just in as much pain as he was. Anise thought it looked weird to see Asch of all people be gentle for once with his replica, hell anyone for that matter but she didn't voice it out because now was not the time for that.

"You okay, Luke?" the other nodded slightly.

"I will be...in a minute." He panted out.

"Luke...your ears...they're bleeding." Luke didn't know who said it, but when he slowly stuck a finger to his ear he felt something warm and wet and pulled away to find there was indeed blood. They all stared at this alarmed and the younger looked up at the eldest fearfully.

"Big brother...?" on the roof on the far side of the manor, a figure was holding a pair of binoculars as they watched the group closely inside the glass dome with an odd looking fon machine that had a saucer attached to it next to them.

"Humph, as I thought. The original is psychically linked with his replica. This could be troublesome...but. At least I know the machine works perfectly, so not a complete loss. Now to commence phase two." They said to themselves as they turned off the contraption then disappeared over the building.

Meanwhile, back at the garden, the princess healed Luke's ears and wiped the blood off for him. He and Asch would have done it themselves, but they were too exhausted from the ordeal and from practice and Tear was too busy keeping the barrier up. "Your ears didn't take any damage so your hearing should be fine." He nodded in thanks. She was about to heal Asch as well, but again he waved her off. "But you're hurt!" she insisted but he shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. Luke was the one that took the full brunt. I just felt his pain that's all." He reassured as he looked to Luke worriedly who was a reassuring Meiu and everyone again that he was okay now and was just tired. "Luke, what was that?"

"I don't know. At first, it felt like I was in a trance of some sort, hearing this strange ringing sound. It was barely noticeable at first, but once it got louder it felt like my eardrums were about to burst from how loud it was and my head felt like it was about to explode and all I wanted was for it to stop because of how painful it was."

"Ringing you say?" Jade inquired and he nodded.

"Yeah, like when you pop you ears or hear something loud after. Didn't you guys hear it?" they all shook their heads. Then Meiu waved his paw in the air rapidly.

"Oh! I heard something! But I'm not sure what it was, meiu." He nodded and turned to his older brother.

"What about you Asch? Did you hear it?" he shook his head.

"No, but I know something wasn't right and I sensed you hearing something. But other than the pain, nothing else."

Jade hummed in thought. "A ringing noise that only Luke and Meiu could hear and Asch being able to sense it...though I could be wrong, but just maybe...?"

"By the way old man, how did you know what was going on with Luke?" he questioned a bit suspiciously.

"I have a theory, but I need to do an examination on the both of you to prove that it is correct." Said Jade. "Luckily, I brought my medical equipment and some of my supplies with me; I just need to go fetch them.

"Uh huh. And the barrier?"

"Lucky guess." He replied simply with a grin and the redhead growled, narrowing his eyes at him and a vein popping.

"You son of a bitch." He mumbled, but turned back his focus at hand. "So how are you going to get your stuff?" the grin never wavered from the man's face.

"Simple, walking." Asch scowled at his sarcastic answer as his eyebrow twitched.

"In case you've forgotten-which I'm not surprised considering how ancient you are-but we can't leave here since it'll put Luke at risk and the only way for you to grab your shit is to put the barrier down!"

"So I'm aware," he countered as he adjusted his glasses, "than I propose we come up with a solution shall we?"

"Tch. Like what, we cover his ears?"

"Precisely." Asch stared at him incredulously.

"How do you know that'll work?" he questioned.

"Leap of faith." Was his only reply, which did not satisfy the Viscount. Luke shrugged.

"Well it's worth a shot, so why not? Plus, what other options do we have?" he firmly covered his ears with his hands, smiling cheekily. His original rolled his eyes.

"Idiot."

'I heard that.'

'You were meant to!' he thought back and sat behind his isofon to press his hands firmly against the other's. Guy kneeled down in front of them.

"Can you hear me?" he asked. Luke raised a confused brow at him.

"WHAT?" he practically shouted and the blonde nodded to the others.

"We're good." He called back and the General nodded in affirmative. Guy turned back and showed five fingers to his former charges to let them know that they were going to bring the barrier down, making them tighten their hold on Luke's ears. Once he made it to one, Tear brought down the barrier and they all tensed as Luke closed his eyes shut and bit his lip, waiting for the inevitable pain to come. But when nothing happened, they all sighed in relief.

"We're not out of the woods yet." Said Asch as he kept his hands firmly on his brother's ears and Jade quickly walked off towards the guest wing. Just then, their parents came out running towards the group.

"What is going on here? One of the maids heard screaming!" Duke Fabre questioned frantically and they started to explain the situation. Once finished, they kneeled in front of their sons. "Luke, Asch, are you both all right?"

"WHAT?" Luke shouted again.

'He asked if we're all right.'

"YEAH! WE'RE OKAY!"

'And quit shouting you idiot!'

'I'm not shouting 'you idiot!'.' he retorted back.

'Oh, you are so lucky I can't hit you right now.'

The younger just snickered and Jade came that moment to come back with a brown medical bag. He set it down in front of the twins as their parents moved aside for him to work and kneeled before taking out a small hand-held fon machine that looked like a scanner, ignoring the look of interest from the Marquess and scanned the area. Then he scanned the redheads and hummed a few times before nodding to confirm his suspicions.

"Just as I thought. Asch, you can release his ears now. Whatever it was has stopped for now but do it slowly, we have to make sure if it really stopped." He nodded before repeating what the General said to Luke, grabbing his hands and slowly letting go of his ears. They all waited with trepidation for a moment before letting out a breath and Jade began examining them. Asch was a bit disgruntled at the manhandling but didn't voice out his complaints because all he wanted to know is if his little brother was okay and what it was that did this to cause him so much pain. There were more things to worry about than is own comfort and that would be knowing that Luke was safe for now and that he would be okay. After checking both of them twice, Jade mentally jot down what he learned from examining them in his memory folder as he put his medical equipment away and took out the scanner again to put some calculations while everyone watched him patiently with bated breath so he would tell them what he just found out. They all knew him long enough to know when he found something, so they were anxious to know what it was.

"So old man," Asch started, "found out if whatever theory you have in that head of yours is right or not?"

"Asch!" his father scolded for his rudeness and his son shrugged.

"I believe so," Jade answered, not really bothered as he looked over his calculations again before nodding and looked back to them. "Tell me Luke, you said you heard a ringing. Did it sound like this?" he faced the scanner towards them and pressed a side button and emitting out of it was the same high-pitched ringing. None of them could hear it but when Luke and Asch suddenly held their heads with pained expressions and Meiu's ears twitched from where he was sitting on his master's lap, they knew they could and he quickly switched it off. Everyone asked if they were all right and they nodded.

"Yeah, that was it! What was that?"

"A hypersonic fonon resonance; a sound that can be projected by using seventh fonons and can cause severe damage to the ears and the optic nervous system."

"But how come we couldn't hear it?" Guy asked.

"Because it was specifically designed to cause severe damage or kill replicas if one malfunctions; Luke is a replica, we are not so only he can hear it. Monsters and animals can hear it and sense it but it does not cause harm to them either. Only replicas can."

"So what, it's like a dog whistle for replicas then?" said Asch and he nodded.

"Precisely my point, it was only created as a precaution should a replica be made-my apologies-born incorrectly. If there is a replica that is unable to be dealt with, than this was another alternative for it-them." He corrected. "Sad to say is that I was the one that created this emergency system shut down for a personal reason I shall not indulge." Jade gave the boy a pointed look and the replica nodded in understanding, knowing full well what he was talking about. "Luke, I am terribly sorry for this to have happened. I did not think that someone would steal my research and use it as a weapon, again."

"It's okay Jade, you didn't know that's all." Then his eyes widened as something just occurred to him. "Wait! You said only creatures and replicas could hear it. Why could Asch sense it?"

"Asch may not be able to hear it because he is human but he is also an exception because you both are perfect isofons and your fon slots are connected, so he feels everything you do." He explained.

"I see." he responded solemnly, and then became concerned. "There's just one thing that worries me though." He turned to the green-haired boy. "Florian, are you okay?" Florian became confused, but seeing as to what he was getting at the others directed their concerns to him and Jade took immediate action to examine him while Anise began to fuss over him.

"Oh my god, Florian! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Tell me where it hurts!" she panicked as she looked over the young replica for a non-existent injury and who could blame her? Considering her traumatized experience with Ion's death it was no wonder she was worried about him.

"Yes I'm fine, but I'm confused. I'm a replica too, so how come I haven't heard anything or felt any pain like Luke and Asch?" Jade checked him over for any injuries and scanned him over calmly, but they all knew that he was just as baffled.

"Strange? You were born to replace the previous Fon Master and was born the same way as all the other replicas, yet my readings show that you seem to be unaffected by the fon resonance when you should be experiencing the same conditions as them. Why is that I wonder?" he said curiously but still concerned for the boy's well being.

"Maybe that's a good thing that he wasn't able to hear the resonance-thing like Luke did?" the raven chimed in positively, just relieved that Florian wasn't hurt. "If he did, judging by how loud and painful it looked Florian would have died."

"Maybe so, but it still concerns me. I'm not implying that it's a terrible thing but it should have affected him as well when he is also a replica and it should be programmed into his system automatically when he was born." He explained as he double-checked his scanner.

"Well, maybe I'm different?" Florian suggested. "I mean maybe it's because I'm not a perfect isofon like Luke or because I was...what was it you called me before?"

"Preprogrammed."

"Right, preprogrammed. Could either of those be it?"

"Hmm. Perhaps, though I can't be sure until I do a complete analysis on all three of you back at my lab in Malkuth immediately-that way I can make sure it doesn't happen again. But I want to confirm something first before I do." Anise immediately realized at where he was going at and looked outraged.

"Oh no! Don't even think about doing that ringing thing on him General!" the boy turned to her.

"Anise don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He assured. "Jade just wants to confirm something before he can help Luke and Asch and it'll only take a minute." Then he flinched back when she turned her glare on him, but he tried to stand his ground.

"But you could get hurt and I am not letting you take that chance if it means for you to suffer!" she snapped and he frowned.

"And if it means to see my friends to suffer for my sake and I wasn't able to help them, then I am willing to take that risk! Doing nothing would be selfish of me and I am not going to just sit back and watch them suffer because of me!" everyone was taken aback by how determined he sounded and looked at that moment, especially the Fon Mistress who blinked in stunned silence. Never in her life had she ever heard him sound so determined to do anything let alone heard him raise his voice at her. What stunned her most was that he sounded just like...Ion. Seeing the look of shock on her face; Florian gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know you're worried about me Anise and I understand why, but I'll be fine and for first time in my short life since I was born, I can finally do something useful for once and help you guys. You may think I'm weak because I'm Ion's replica...but I'm not them and you have to believe that I am strong, so please understand how much I want to do this. Not only for them but for me as well; I don't want to sit on the side lines anymore, so trust me." Everyone stared at him in shock. Well said, Florian. Luke congratulated in his head. Anise closed her eyes and gave a humorless smile.

"Just like Ion, you're as stubborn as he was and would do anything to help the people you care about, even if it means risking your own life..." she mused to herself. "All right, I'll trust you on this. But please, be careful." She reminded and he nodded.

"Thank you." Then he turned to the sandy-haired man, now determined. "I'm ready." Jade nodded and signaled to the twins. They immediately covered Luke's ears again. Jade began to turn some knobs on the scanner at different frequencies and played them to see what would happen. At first, nothing seemed to be happening until on one of them he cringed slightly at it and Jade raised an eyebrow curiously at this, not sure if he was cringing at the noise or in slight pain. Whatever it was it had some result but he wasn't completely sure, so he proceeded to turn it a couple notches down than what he heard-a much different frequency than Luke's and Asch's-and when he played it he had a completely different reaction than the last. Even though none of them could hear it other than Meiu, the sound Florian heard was a low hum like a tuning fork, making the boy drop his staff.

"Florian?" but he didn't hear her as he was in the same trance-like state as Luke was and when he turned up the volume by three notches, he was immediately in the same position as the young monarchs were when it first started and he whimpered slightly in pain as he covered his ears. Seeing the results he needed, he nodded and stopped to let the boy relax, but stopped the raven from advancing to his side to check him over first before deeming him safe and she quickly dashed over to him before giving the man a half-hearted glare while the twins relaxed and put their hands down.

"As I expected as much, you are affected by it. You just have a different frequency than them." He clarified and handed him his staff back. Florian smiled in thanks. "Now that we've solved that, all we have to do is head over to Malkuth to fix this and figure out who we are dealing with that would want Luke dead."

"I will notify this to his Majesty at once." Duke Fabre informed and got up, helping his wife to her feet, and they walked off back inside.

"I must wonder how they knew that Luke was a replica though." Tear inquired.

"That is indeed a wonder but not surprising since there are many people we know that truly knows this. Someone must have told somebody or dislikes him enough to want to kill him or replicas in general and they are using our boy here as a test dummy. The only thing I do not understand is how in Auldrant they knew how to get my research to accomplish this. It is unknown to know if this was an inside job or an outside job; someone from my division perhaps or maybe they somehow broke into my lab to steal it. Other than that, I am not quite certain who would know-"he paused as a thought occurred to him. "Unless..." he gave a dark chuckle, sending chills down their spines.

"Unless what, Jade?" asked Natalia, nervous.

"It might be possible, but I'm just not sure. I could be wrong?" he mused.

"What?" said Asch, irritated already.

"I'm hoping that I am certainly wrong, but it may be possible for Saphir to have escaped from prison." He stated to the group.


	6. Ch 6

Ch. 6

For the next three days or so, the group had been staying at the manor to discuss their course of action with the Duke and the king and to let the boys recuperate from their ordeal (much to the redheads' chagrin since they wanted to leave for Malkuth immediately). And the unknown threat looming over everyone's heads along with the idea of Dist escaping from prison didn't put their minds at ease at all. So while the others were discussing the issue at the castle, the boys (much to the twins' dismay) had to stay at the manor for their own safety for the time being; by Ingobert's and everyone's orders they might add before they would depart. Florian, however, was contempt with staying and amused himself by exploring the complex and talking to the staff, the maids simply adoring him. The young monarchs, however, were not as they were antsy and irritated for staying and being cooped up, Asch more so since he's never been forced to stay in one place for long hours against his will, especially when he was on a mission which was currently going to Malkuth and Luke could tell how much it bothered him not only by their link but also by watching him pace around angrily in his small room where they were now residing after they did their daily training.

Luke was used to being imprisoned in his own home, simply by experience of seven long years of getting used to it, but his original on the other hand wasn't. For as long as he knew his big brother, Asch had never once stayed in one place for too long, not even when they were still fighting Van did he stay in one place. As a God-General, he had many duties and assignments to accomplish and missions to go on all the time and when he didn't, he still wouldn't stay for personal reasons unless it was to sleep under a tree at the cathedral gardens or to think in his quarters. So for him to stay home was nothing to the replica but to his isofon, it was pure torture. Even when he came home he still didn't stay in a room or in an area around Baticul for too long unless he had a reason or he was with Luke, which was now all the time. Luke didn't know if he was doing it for his benefit or that he truly wanted to be around him, but he didn't complain. He loved being around his sibling as much as he loved to be around Tear and everyone, so he tried to move around a lot more for _Asch's_ benefit.

Right now, the younger was currently sitting in his chair that was in his room calmly-ignoring the now huge sunspot on his wall that used to hold Van's portrait-and continued to watch Asch as he still paced back and forth, grumbling under his breath to himself and had been currently doing so for the past ten minutes. As amusing as it was _five minutes ago _to watch him in this state, it was starting to get annoying just watching the same rerun over and over again. Luke glanced at the sunspot blankly for a moment. _I really need to get that filled up. _He thought absentmindedly and looked back to see the other still doing the same thing, so he thought it would be a good time to break the silence. "You know, if you keep that up, you're going to form a rut on my floor and you'll have to explain that to Mother how that happened." He said lightly, trying to ease the mood and what he got in return was a half-hearted glare.

"Shut up." He retorted and ran his hands in frustration through his red hair. "Argh! Dear Yulia, how did you survive staying here for seven years?!" he exasperated, finally pausing in his incessant pacing. Thank Lorelei! He thought for sure that he would have to get up and nail his feet to the ground in order for him to stop. "Don't even _think_ about doing that." He warned when he read his thoughts and the boy just grinned innocently with a shrug before going back to his earlier question.

"Well I got used to it and kept myself busy for most of the time by exploring and training. Plus, I had Guy to keep me entertained, especially when he still had his phobia." He chuckled to himself as he remembered the memories he had messing with the blonde noble. "Also, other times I would be planning on how to get out and I certainly didn't make it easy on everyone back then. You have no idea how many escape attempts I've made over the years of being locked up. I'm surprised I've still managed to keep most of my sanity for this long."

"Really? You could've fooled me." He commented and the other frowned at him.

"Shut up! For your information I think that's pretty impressive for someone like me who stayed here your whole life while seeing the same thing everyday until the point you remember every single nook and cranny and having to learn the most basic things in life but to never see the outside world, so quite frankly, you have no right to comment 'Mr. I-like-to-pace-and-gripe-like-a-maniac'!" he stated in a snarky tone. "Seriously, you look like you're about to blow a gasket at any moment."

"Can you really blame me? I can't stand being here for so long when what we should be doing is leaving for Malkuth right now when all we're doing is sitting here on our asses while the others are at the castle TALKING!"

"I get that Asch, I really do. But we can't do anything until everything is in order, so you just have to try to be patient." He said sympathetically and Asch groaned.

"Seriously? How could you stand living like this?!" he shrugged.

"I didn't, I mostly spent my time causing trouble and annoying the crap out of everyone (and you know how I was back then). And from all the escape attempts I've made I eventually made it into a game of my own version of Hide and Seek and see how long it would take for everyone to find me and try to catch me."

"You've must've been a handful; I could see how much you could drive Father up the wall. I'm surprised he still has any hair left since I would've figured he might have gone bald by this point."

"I know right, that's what I thought too! But Father really wasn't around all that much so he didn't have to deal with me often; mostly the staff did and Mother was mostly bedridden." The older redhead scoffed.

"Figures. It would be just like him to not even be around when his own son was kidnapped and thought to have lost all of his memories when he comes home."

"Well you can't really blame him, he thought he was about to lose his son to the Score so he thought it would be best to push us away rather than to get close to us to make it easier on him." Asch furrowed his brows and crossed his arms.

"How could you actually forgive that man for what he did to us?"

"...I don't. But I can see why he did it and I can sort of understand that, so it may be his fault for making that decision...but it truly isn't since he was forced into making one. He did the best he could, even though he could've made another decision to not close off his family but he did it anyway; it was the choice to either feel the pain of loss and endure it or to fear it and stay away." The man stared at him in slight bewilderment at his answer but looked down and made a small smile of amazement. _He really is stronger than I give him credit for. _"And if you ask me, he sort of reminds me of you actually." At this, he looked back up at him and narrowed his eyes slightly. Luke, realizing what he just said, stiffened and he bit his lip, paling slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned and hearing the slight dark tone in his voice made him flinch.

"No-nothing, forget I said anything." He replied timidly, looking away and shook slightly in fear of him yelling. The older sighed and stepped up to him until he was standing in front of him and he put his hands gently on the scared boy's shoulders; the younger flinching at the contact, expecting to be hit and the redhead sighed again but felt guilty for scaring him. He knew Luke didn't like it when he got angry, especially towards him.

"No tell me, I really want to know." Said Asch in a much gentler tone. Luke glanced up at him, contemplating on telling him or not since he knew it would very well make him mad. But if he didn't, it would only make him madder and judging from the position that he was in his options were pretty much slim. Feeling how uneasy and unsure he was, Asch leaned down to his eye level and gave a comforting smile. "I won't get mad, I promise. Please, tell me." He asked again and Luke hesitated but sighed.

"W-well...it's just...when I first met you, you seemed cold and distant like Father was back then. You used to push people away like he did with the same cold expression he had to deal with your emotions and not get close to anyone. And when people tried to get close you always lashed out at them like he did. Don't you see, you guys aren't that different after all because you were afraid to trust people while he was afraid to get close to others...so you both thought if you stayed away it would make life easier and hurt less." Asch stood back and looked away in contemplation but found out that he was right; he wasn't any different from their father at all than he is now and he cursed himself for making Luke think that way about him back then. He smiled ruefully at this. Under his hands he felt shaking and he looked back down to see Luke was trembling and he felt fear go through him. Without a word, he leaned back down and kissed his little brother's forehead softly, surprising the boy and he ruffled his hair affectionately with a warm smile.

"Even though I kept on thinking that I wouldn't be like him, I still was." He mused as he leaned his forehead against the other's. "Thanks for telling me and being honest about it. I know that must've been hard for you." The younger redhead smiled happily, glad that he wasn't mad at him, and hugged him around his mid-section, burying the side of his cheek to his chest as he listened to his brother's steady heartbeat and the older soothingly stroking his hand through his replica's hair.

"You still don't resent him, do you Big Brother?" Asch sighed.

"No, but it'll take a long time for me to completely forgive him though." He answered as he stroked his hair to calm the both of them. Luke nodded in understanding and closed his eyes at the calming touch. They stayed like that in comfortable silence for a minute or so, but then the older broke it when he thought of something to lighten the mood and smirked. "So, how angry was he when he heard about your escape attempts?" at this, his twin couldn't help but laugh and looked up at him.

"Believe me, you have no idea how mad he was when he found out. One time when I was walking around, I noticed that one of the trees were tall enough for me to climb over the wall, so I made sure that no one was around and climbed up. But I was so busy concentrating on climbing that I didn't notice a guard had walked under the tree and saw what I was doing before yelling for me to get down and surprising me, making me fall off and land in his arms. I thought Father was about to blow his top off and you should've seen how red his face was; it was nearly as red as his hair and he was so mad that he couldn't even form any coherent words when he was yelling at me!" they laughed as they imagined their Father's face as red as his hair. Then Luke had an idea and grinned wickedly. Seeing this, Asch raised an eyebrow skeptically at him.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, suspicious.

"Well, I was just thinking. We're pretty bored but we now have these powers and we're getting better at them...I may have a plan for us to actually get out of here temporarily." Seeing what he was getting at, his twin mimicked the same look on his face as well.

TTTTTTT

Down on the lower levels, the young Viscounts laughed hysterically at their success as they walked down on one of the lower streets of Baticul. "That was way too easy!" Asch commented with Luke walking beside him.

"I know! Why didn't I have these powers before; it could've saved me a lot of trouble and bruises." They cackled, giving each other high-fives. In their escape, all the two did was run past the guards really fast undetected; the only challenge they had was getting past the one guard that stood next to the elevator and getting on it without alerting anyone. But that didn't deter them seeing how this White Knight must have taken the night shift judging from how slumped over he was and he kept lifting his head whenever he would almost nod off as he leaned against the railing of the elevator. They'll have to talk to their father about the scheduling later. So trying out his whistling technique that Luke taught him, Asch just put him to sleep and he was out like a light, snoring against the wall loudly under his helmet making them snicker. They winced slightly when they both descended as the elevator creaked slightly but nonetheless, they managed to escape undetected...Well, almost undetected.

"Master? Are you sure that it was a good idea to leave without everyone, meiu? Our friends will be very worried." Said the cheagle, floating next to his head. The original shook his head in annoyance.

"I still don't get why we had to bring the stupid thing along." He complained.

"It's not my fault Meiu was at the door when we were about to leave, and besides. If we left him he would have blabbed to the others that we left." He stated logically.

"True, but he's still annoying." He couldn't help but add.

"Don't worry Meiu, we won't be out here long. We just wanted a change of scenery that's all." Which was actually true, seeing how Asch's attitude was improving and was actually smiling again and less agitated. It seems a change of scenery was all he needed and Luke smiled happily, glad that leaving was a good idea. They were just talking idly to each other about meaningless things and pointing out at the sights when suddenly some teens pushed between them and rudely shoved them aside. The older quickly steadied Luke by grabbing his arm as to how close he was to toppling over by the unexpected shove and was about to snap at them but paused curiously when he saw a huge crowd gathering around a large tent; a mile long line waiting to go inside. "Hey, what's going on over there?" Luke asked in awe.

"Don't know. Looks like a show or a circus are about to start."

"Cool! Can we go watch it? Please? I've never seen anything like it!" he asked eagerly with pleading eyes and Asch thought on it before shrugging.

"Why not." He replied. "If we're gonna get caught by the time the meeting is over we might as well have fun while we're at it."

"Yes! Come on, if we hurry we could still get seats!" automatically, he grabbed his counterpart's hand and took off running towards the tent with Meiu hanging onto his hair. They pushed their way through the crowd, apologizing along the way, when Luke suddenly stopped at the front of the crowd, causing Asch to stumble from the unexpected stop and he glared at his replica in annoyance.

"Seriously, what is with you and dragging me around!" the replica ignored the comment as he had a huge grin on his face and tugged on the other's hand excitedly.

"Look, look!" he pointed and the redhead groaned but looked anyway and did a double take at what he saw, or rather whom he saw.

"You've gotta be kidding me." He muttered as he saw the three people he didn't think he would see again.

"Step right up folks to the greatest circus you will ever see in your life! The Black Dreams!" announced York as he gathered people around riding on a monster.

"You will be mystified at the wonders you will see before you, but you won't know once you step in...if you dare!" said Urushi, drawing in a couple spectators and some kids.

"Please come, I promise you'll be in for a grand show. And you won't regret It." said Noir with a flirtatious wink and a smirk towards a couple men who were swooning and one of the women whacked a man upside the head, probably his wife. Meanwhile, the boys just stared at the three familiar bandits.

"It's your Dark Wings collogues, why don't we go say hi?" Luke suggested before walking over to them without waiting for a response and Asch had no choice but to follow since he didn't want Luke to wander off in this crowd and get lost and apart from that, he still had his hand wrapped tightly around his. "Noir!" he called to the pink-haired women and she turned, also doing a double take like they did on the redheads striding towards her before giving them her winning smile. They stopped in front of her with Luke finally letting go of his original.

"Oh my! Well, so the rumors are true. You both are alive. Good to see you boys, especially you Boss." She addressed to her former client who nodded in return. "So are you two here for the show?"

"Yep, we saw the crowd, so we thought to check it out. Didn't think we'd be running into you though." She nodded and called to her men.

"Boys! Make preparations for the 'royal house'! We have two very special guests that will be joining us today!"

"Yes ma'am!" they saluted before running off.

"Your seats will be ready shortly, for now. Why don't we all 'catch up'?" she suggested sensually as she leaned in towards Luke who backed away from the advancing woman and sweat-dropped nervously. Asch chuckled behind his hand at the look on his face and Noir raised an eyebrow inquisitively at him.

"Gee thanks Noir, but I think my girlfriend would get pretty jealous if she finds out that we 'catch up' in the way you think." She sighed dramatically.

"Pity, well while we wait for your seats-which are on the house by the way for you two-why don't I introduce you to the rest of the crew?"

"Hold it!" she stopped short in mid-turn and glanced back to see the younger noble giving her a blank look with his hands on his hips and the older smirking in amusement. He held out his left hand to her. "Hand it over." He said bluntly.

"Why, what ever do you mean?" she said, feigning innocence. He frowned at her, not buying it.

"My wallet. Give it back." She chuckled before turning fully back around, handing over said wallet.

"Very good, you're much more observant than the last time I saw you." She was about to turn around again, but didn't even make it far when she heard a throat clearing and saw Luke holding out his hand again with his wallet in his other. She sighed before giving back a few pieces of gald. He glanced down at it blankly and back at her. She gave him more gald and he tapped his foot impatiently before she condescendingly gave back the rest of his money. He gave her a bright smile in return and pocketed the money.

"Thank you." She was about to leave, again, when she was stopped yet again by another throat clearing. This time from Asch.

"And while we're at it, the rest of the stuff you stole." She growled and began emptying out her pockets of five more wallets and some jewelry. "Thank you, and tell the boys to hand over the things they stole as well." Then the two laughed at his own comment and proceeded to give back the belongings to the crowd as Noir watched after them in irritation, but couldn't help be interested.

"Well, that was completely unexpected. Those two have certainly changed a lot over the past three years, Asch more so...but what's up with the matching outfits?" she said as the Viscounts walked back towards her and they made their way to the tent.

TTTTTTT

The boys enjoyed themselves as they were given the grand tour of the stage and the back and were introduced to the employees. They both were in stitches when the blue cheagle accidentally got close to a liger cage and quickly hid in the safety of his master's pocket. Then they had some fun by playing a strength game and a knife-throwing contest with the performers and had a few laughs when the boys had beaten them. But while they were chatting with the rest of the Dark Wings, after telling them to return what they stole, York accidentally made the mistake of commenting about their wardrobe choice and Asch made a dark look before nearly pouncing on the man to strangle him like he swore he would. Luckily, Luke was there ready and waiting and had already held him back by the shoulders, expecting this would happen sooner or later ("If I hear you make that comment again, I'll give you a reason why they called me Asch the Bloody back then!") while the man hid behind his round friend fearfully from the former God-General.

By the time he calmed down, their seats were ready and they passed through the crowd to get seated, which wasn't that hard considering many of the people recognized the two and made a path for them, bowing courteously and saying hello to them and they sat down in the chairs that were in the front row. Unlike the risers the audience had to sit in, the chairs they sat in (more like thrones then chairs) were called the "royal house" seats for a reason. The whole frame was made of polished dark wood in elegant designs and red velvet cushions. Meiu came out of his hiding spot after and sat down on Luke's lap to watch the show. He looked up at him questionably. "Master, what's a circus?"

"It's a show where people perform and do tricks for money and to entertain the public." He explained.

"Have you ever been to one?"

"No, but I've heard of them and always wanted to go see one. Now I finally am!" he exclaimed happily. Asch turned to him to join in on the conversation.

"That's right, you've been stuck at the manor your whole life so you've never gotten the chance to, and traveling around didn't give you enough leisure time to either. So you excited to see your first circus, Luke?" he nodded happily.

"Uh huh!" was his reply, excitement written all over his face. Asch chuckled in amusement and reached up to ruffle his hair fondly.

"Well enjoy it as much as you can. After all, this is a once in a life time to see one anywhere."

"Oh you know I will, I can't wait!" then he turned slightly sad. "Too bad the others won't be here to enjoy it with us." The other just waved off the concern.

"They would just be a drag and force us to go back up to the manor for our safety and stuff."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So how many circuses have you been to?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I've been to a couple when I was a kid, but they didn't interest me all that much because I was mostly too busy focusing on what was expected of me from Father and Uncle." Luke was about to ask him if he's decided to take the throne or not yet, but decided against it and held his tongue since they only came out here to get away from everything and he didn't want to ruin it by talking about politics, so he mentally shook his head and put on his usual smile.

"Well how about you take this chance to actually enjoy it for once. You never know if you really like it if you at least try and this is the only time to forget about it all for a while and just have fun, so try and savor it." the older shrugged but took his advice into mind. Then the lights dimmed and the three turned to the stage, the replica practically bouncing in his seat in anticipation as he held Meiu in his arms. "Oo, oo! It's starting!" he whispered as the whole tent began to quiet down and Asch couldn't help but shake his head in amusement by how excited he sounded, but he couldn't really blame him as they all began to watch. On the other side of the stage under the risers, a shadowed figure was watching them closely through a pair of binoculars. The dark male put them down and took out a black case. He opened its contents and began assembling something from it.

Halfway through the show, Luke laughed and watched in awe at the display of the performers. It was nothing like he had ever seen before in his life. He and Meiu laughed again when the clowns messed with each other and Asch smiled at the scene, glad that he was having fun considering what happened three days ago. He had to admit, he was actually having fun as well but before, he would've never found himself enjoying a circus with his replica let alone be in the same room with him. But around Luke, he was starting to reconsider a lot of things he thought were silly or stupid in the past. Around Luke, everything was brighter, warmer, and he was starting to see what the world really looked like through Luke's eyes. To Luke, the world was beautiful and full of laughter and joy rather than death, pain, and expectations. Sure he's experienced it all and had sacrificed everything including his own innocence, even though he was so young, but he did it in order to protect everything he ever loved in this world so everyone else would be happy and live in it too. And he did all of this and is amazingly still able to smile with that warm, bell-like laugh of his that always brought light to any room.

Luke...light of the sacred flame. A fitting name for him and it suited him way better than it did on him because it didn't belong to him; it never did in the first place. Maybe he didn't know it before but what he did know now was that he was never to be called Luke, and maybe he knew it inside of him all along but just didn't realize it until now, for it was a name of someone innocent. To him, he was just the holder of the name until he could pass it on to someone else who truly earned the name, for he was not innocent and probably never was and had always been Asch. From the moment he was born he had always been taught to become a great king for his country and be a good son and in order to do that, he had to sacrifice his childhood, which meant he couldn't do what every child did or needed. He didn't play outside like any carefree child or do the things he wanted to do or enjoy anything in life a child did for that matter. Back then, he may have been a child but on the inside he never really felt like he was; inside he was just like any adult with responsibilities, but in a smaller body and regretted for wasting his life on it...But that didn't matter anymore, because what happened or didn't happen can't be changed. What he can do right now is at least make amends for his past mistakes and protect this one innocent, child that needed him; his little brother, Luke. The little light that always brings happiness wherever he went. Yes, that's a good way of thinking about it, his little light and the one thing that meant everything to him and he would be damned if anything ever happened to him. He wished that he realized this sooner, but that was another mistake to correct.

Asch applauded when the clowns took a bow and watched as they started on the trapeze act. After slowly assembling the thing the man had been building, he raised it up to reveal a crossbow and looked through the periscope, then began to aim it on the replica's head. Watching the acrobats swinging from the ceiling, the young monarch watched in awe but paused when he sensed something was off and looked around nervously, bringing the cheagle closer to his chest. Feeling his unease, Asch turned to him in concern for the boy. "Luke, what's the matter?"

"I...I don't know. For some reason, I feel like someone's watching me or something." he frowned and using his enhanced sight, Asch began to scan the area for something out of the ordinary as well. The assassin chuckled under his breath as he watched the replica and his original looking around, loving how he was making them feel nervous. _Well, looks like I've been had. Better start then._ He thought amusingly and got ready to take the shot. Luke combed through the rows of seats carefully before spotting something shining under the risers across from where he was sitting and squinted to get a better focus on what it was more closely...and what he saw made him pale and his heart stop. There, under the risers was a man staring right at him through a periscope, holding a crossbow. Aimed directly _right_ at his head. He was about to telepathically call to his original when he heard the whistle of the arrow being fired. Asch heard it too and was about to intercept it, but Luke had already moved his head towards the left and it struck the backrest of his chair instead.

They both stared at it in shock while the people around them were completely oblivious and Asch quickly scrambled out of his seat and was immediately at his pale brother's side. "Luke! Are you all right? Tell me that you're all right!" he frantically asked to the stunned boy. It took a moment for him to register what he had said before he faced his worried brother, slightly surprised at how panicked he looked and nodded numbly.

"Brother...there's a man across the room...under the risers." He finally got out, still in shock and the other immediately turned his attention around towards the other side of the tent to see that there was indeed a man under the risers. He couldn't really see his face, but what he could see was a small remote control in his hands now instead of the crossbow. Asch thought it was the fonon resonance device and was about to warn Luke to cover his ears when he finally noticed the small ticking sound. He looked behind the other's chair and cursed when he saw fon grenades attached to wires and stuck to the back of it.

"HIT THE DECK!" He shouted, catching people's attention who stared at him confused but he ignored them as he pulled a surprised replica out of his seat, over the edge, and landing on top of him to shield him with his body, unknowingly creating a gold force-field around them when they landed just as the assassin pressed the remote too late and caused a big explosion. There were screams all around them as the audience frantically rushed their way out of the tent while some that were near the boys got caught in the explosion. Some were injured or unconscious who were the lucky ones that were the farthest away from it while the ones that were closer weren't so lucky sadly. Asch raised his head and looked down at his charge he was shielding. "Are you okay?" he yelled over the noise. Luke nodded and turned his head to see if he was too but paused, stunned as he stared over his shoulder.

"Asch...look up!" his isofon looked at him confuse before he did and froze, finally noticing the clear gold shield around the both of them. He poked at it with a tentative finger and felt a solid glass-like surface. "How are you doing that?!"

"I...I have no idea? All I thought about was protecting you from the blast and I guess I made it unconsciously."

"Well can you put it down, we need to help those people!" he nodded and concentrated hard on bringing it down. At once, the barrier went down and he helped him up to his feet, checking him over once before they both leapt up on what was left of the risers."

"Master!"

"Meiu, are you okay?" he asked and the cheagle who he had been protecting in his arms nodded.

"Meiuu, yes I'm fine. What happened?"

"Someone caused this to happen, but we can't worry about that now. Right now, we need to help these people. I need you to go find Noir and tell her to evacuate everyone and see if any of them look suspicious."

"Yes Master!" the cheagle quickly flew off to find the woman while Luke kneeled down in front of an injured man before healing his wounds.

"_O healing power...First Aid!"_ In an instant, the man's wounds began to heal themselves. He carefully helped him up, making sure he could stand on his own, and told him to help as many people as he could and leave. Then he went onto the next person and started healing them as well.

"Luke!" He turned and saw Asch quickly running over to his side. "This is taking too long, we need a larger healing arte to heal these people and find the guy that did this."

"Don't worry, I told Meiu to go find Noir so she can see if anyone in the crowd looks suspicious." He nodded and they faced the injured in front of them with their arms extended.

"_O regenerative power, abide here! Healing Force!"_ They recited and the citizens that were still alive healed completely.

"Go! Get out of here, now!" He shouted urgently and they slowly got up and made their way towards the exit. "Come on, we gotta find that assassin." The redhead nodded and in a flash, they were over to where they saw the man last under the risers. But when they got there, he was already gone along with the crossbow and the remote. Asch growled and punched one of the boards on the risers, breaking it in half. "DAMN IT!"

"Asch calm down, we'll find him."

"How? He could be anywhere by now!"

"He couldn't have gotten far. Hopefully Noir will find him."

"I hope so, because when I see that bastard, I'll beat some answers out of him and kill him!"

"Asch..."

"I'm serious! If you hadn't dodged that arrow and if I hadn't noticed the bombs before, you would've been dead right on the spot!" The replica calmly put his hands on his enraged original's shoulders and gave him a comforting smile.

"Asch, relax. We'll find the assassin and get our answers soon enough. For now, we'll just have to be patient and hope for the best that the Dark Wings will find him. And you don't have to worry about me getting killed, they can't put me down that easily." He said lightly. Asch took in slow deep breaths to calm his rattled nerves and gave him a nod before taking him into his arms, hugging him tightly. Luke stiffened in astonishment because this was the first time Asch has ever given him a hug, but he smiled nonetheless and returned it happily.

"I'm sorry, it's just that...with all this resonance thing and before everything that had happened since I came home and before we were still fighting Van, I was all alone and left with nothing but to blame you for everything; no home, no family, nothing. And even back when I was still a kid I was still alone with no one to understand me...But when you told me that I could still have a home and a family again I just-" he sighed, hugging him tighter and the other reciprocated back. "...I can't lose you, Little Light; I can't lose my little brother." Luke was quite surprised by the new nickname and teared up slightly at his words, but held them back and buried his face into his big brother's shoulder.

"I know Big Brother, I know." They stayed like that for a minute and separated as they smiled at one another, Asch wiping a stray tear on his counterpart's cheek that had stubbornly escaped from the boy's eye.

"Let's go, we need to get out of here if we're going to find that son of a bitch." The other nodded and they both made their way towards the exit when something caught the older's eye. Asch raised an eyebrow as he picked up whatever it was and examined the trinket. What he picked up was some kind of dog tag attached to a chain but there was something off about it other than the weird symbol on it he had never seen before; a dagger that had what looked like water swirling around it. He thought it would feel cold when he held it but it strangely felt warm in his hand and he didn't like how he was getting this dark vibe he sensed from looking at the symbol itself.

Luke looked over his shoulder to see what caught his attention and for some reason, he shuddered at the sight of it and he didn't know why. "That's a weird symbol, have you seen it before?"

"No, I haven't. Could be custom made for the owners specifications."

"You think someone accidentally dropped it when they ran out of here?"

"Probably. Doesn't say who it belongs to though."

"Well whoever it belongs to, I hope they get it back because that thing gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, me too..." Then he thought of something. "Hey, what if this dog tag belongs to the assassin?" He inquired as he turned to his twin and his look-alike tilted his head in bemusement.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well we saw him hiding here, so it's possible he might've dropped it when he ran off. Plus it might tell us who he works for," he held up the tag up to the younger and he instinctively backed away from it, "and I bet this symbol can tell us who they are and they might be the ones who attacked us before."

"Maybe," said Luke nervously as he kept looking at the dog tag apprehensively, "but could you please put it away? That thing really freaks me out!" Asch rolled his eyes.

"Oh don't be so over dramatic. I know it's creepy and all, but it's just a dog tag."

"It's not just that, it's like I have this weird vibe feeling around it; like I shouldn't touch it or something. And that aura I sense from it, it feels like...Death has touched it. I don't know, but please?" Asch sighed but complied and put it in his pocket, letting the other breath easier once it was out of sight.

"Better?" Luke nodded and his original grabbed his hand as they ran out of the tent.


	7. Ch 7

Ch. 7

When they found Noir, she was directing the citizens out of the tent while her men from the show were holding a pale man with dark hair and black clothing captive. "Master!" Meiu happily flew over and nuzzled his cheek. "I'm so glad you're both safe!"

"I'm glad you're safe too." Luke replied back and the twin nobles turned towards the leader of the Dark Wings. "So who is this guy?" He gestured to her prisoner.

"I saw this man walking away from the scene way too calmly for my liking, and we found this in his possession when he was about to throw it into the harbor. Luckily for us, we caught him before he could." With a snap of her fingers, two clowns from the show came up and dropped a medium sized black case at their feet. Asch was about to kneel down to open it when they heard some shouts calling their names and the redheads swiveled around to see their friends running towards them, looking relieved to find them and a bit annoyed that they had to in the first place. _Oh shit!_ They both thought regrettably as the group stopped in front of them.

"My, my, trouble does seem to follow you both around lately." Jade commented and they both rolled their eyes. Natalia frowned disapprovingly at them and put her hands on her hips.

"Luke, Asch! We have been looking for you both everywhere! We told you explicitly to stay at the house for your own safety. Why did you leave?" She demanded and Luke jerked a thumb towards his twin, grinning impishly.

"Asch didn't like feeling cooped up, so I thought a change of scenery would help." He answered nonchalantly and she frowned deeper, not caring for his conversational tone.

"How did you escape undetected?" They both gave her a deadpan look.

"Really Natalia? You're going to ask us _that_ question?" Guy chuckled.

"Well that was kind of redundant, considering it's them." She turned her glare on him for that remark and started to lecture him while Tear walked over to her lover and swatted him on the arm.

"Idiot! You had me worried sick about you! I thought the people who hurt you came back and kidnapped you both or to finish the job." Luke smiled softly and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm sorry, but you know how I feel about staying at home against my will. We just wanted to relax and forget everything that's all." She sighed condescendingly and gave him a peck.

"All right, but you're not off the hook just yet. You're going to have to make it up to me later."

"How about dinner then?" He suggested and she grinned.

"That'll do, for now."

"Ahem! So guys, what happened here?" Asked Anise. "We could hear the explosion all the way up from the third level. And who is this guy and why are the Dark Wings here?"

"Does she always ask a lot of questions?" Asch retorted to his isofon and she glared. Then they started to explain what happened from the point when they left-ahem escaped-the manor to the explosion.

"What! Someone tried to assassinate you?" Florian exclaimed, horrified. They nodded.

"And we think it's from the same people from last time."

"So you think that's it's this guy who tried to kill you guys?" The blonde swordsman clarified, scrutinizing the man suspiciously who seemed awfully too quiet for his liking.

"We're about to find out." Then he kneeled down in front of the case and began to unlatch it. What he found made his blood boil and the other redhead's run cold. Inside was the crossbow and remote that detonated the bombs along with some wires and fon grenades. What really struck the young Viscounts was the exact same dagger symbol on the inside of the lid. When Florian saw it as well, he shuddered and took an involuntary step back. Asch slowly got up and gave the identified assassin the coldest glare they had ever seen on him. "You…" He said in a dark tone, bringing chills to everyone's spines and the green-haired boy to hide behind the Fon Mistress. Then his cold glare turned to a heated fury as he advanced towards the man. "You son of BITCH!" He yelled as he was in arms reach and punched him squarely in the face. Luke's eyes bulged, and then he ran over and locked his arms under his armpits to hold him back. "Let go of me! I'll kill him! I'll kill him for what he did!"

"Brother, get ahold of yourself! We can't question him if he's beat up and partially conscious!"

"I'm not going to beat him up, I'm going to beat the SHIT out of him until he does give us answers! And by the time I'm through with him he'll be lucky to be half conscious. In fact, he'll be half dead!" He stated angrily as he tried to get out of the hold. "I'll make him pay for what he did to those people, and for what he almost did to you! LET GO!" Luke was struggling a little from holding him back as he tried to calm him down while the others just watched stunned by his outrage. They've never seen him like this; not even when he used to hate Luke was he this angry. They would've helped out but what good would it do when he had the strength to send them far across Auldrant, so only Luke was strong enough to hold him back. Finally having enough, the younger pulled him back and stood in between him and the assassin. "Out of the way Luke." He ordered and Luke frowned.

"No, not until you cool off." He said sternly, giving him a hard glare.

"Luke!"

"Calm down right NOW!" he yelled, loud enough to make the windows in the area rattle. Jade just fixed his glasses, not surprised by his outburst while the rest were shocked when he raised his voice at the original. Said original paused and stared at him stunned. Luke took in a deep breath to rein in his temper. "Asch, you need to chill out and think clearly for a moment, and you promised me you would! Now beating him up won't solve anything and we need him to cooperate with us, unharmed," he added, "so he will answer our questions. So if you don't control your anger right now, I'll have no choice but to use force because I don't want you to do something you may regret later on. Now if you don't think you're calm enough then either I knock you out or stand by Jade and Guy." Asch stared at him speechless for a moment before he breathed slowly and released some of the tension in his shoulders, taking on something of a much calmer demeanor. Feeling his anger tone down a few, he sighed in relief. "Thank you." He stepped aside to let his sibling stand beside him and faced the culprit who now had a bleeding, crooked nose from the punch earlier. Definitely broken. "Who are you? Why did you try to kill me?" But the man just stared at him coldly, so he tried again. "Who are you working for? Who sent you here?" Again, no response and Asch scowled.

"Answer the questions. Who sent you here to try to kill Luke?" He grunted out and Luke put a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, the man began to chuckle darkly and they all stared in bemusement. "Something funny you asshole?"

"What's amusing is to see an original protecting his pathetic replica; how disappointing to your own kind." This took the others aback and the redhead scowled deeper.

"How did you come across that information? Only the royal family and trustworthy people know of this, and you, from where I stand, are not trustworthy."

"And what's more amusing is that you think of _that_ abomination as a human being as well as family."

"Don't you EVER call him that! Luke is my little brother and is more human than any of us!" He raised a brow at the noble.

"From what I heard, you didn't think that way before three years ago." The young monarch became shocked and he smirked at the reaction he had gotten from the redhead. "Yes, I know all about you and your replica along with your little band of friends." Before Asch could attack him for that remark, the blonde noble stepped up with hard eyes, blocking his way.

"Stop changing the subject. Now answer the question. Who hired you to assassinate Luke?" The assassin merely glanced at him blankly before looking back to the twins and then at everyone else in the area until they stopped and locked onto the Necromancer.

"Dr. Jade Balfour; the Necromancer and the creator of Fomicry." He stared at the sandy-blonde man with a look of disgust. "Despicable creature you are, and you call yourself a human being."

"I believe it would be wise for you to answer our questions while you are still breathing for now." Jade advised flatly. Getting over his initial anger, Asch came up and pulled out the dog tag and showed it to the man.

"Tell us what this symbol is because it apparently it's supposed to mean something important if you didn't have it engraved on this dog tag, which I was right to presume that this is yours, or have it printed onto that case of yours."

"It is the symbol of the Cleanse." Luke tilted his head in confusion.

"The Cleanse? What's that?" The assassin glanced at him blankly and it was a bit unnerving to the redhead. Then suddenly, the man pushed away his captives-taking them all by surprise and the men lost their grip on him-and he snatched the tag from the stunned redhead who had no time to react. None them of them were expecting this and couldn't act quickly enough to stop him in time before he was upon the younger redhead's sight, surprising him, and pressed the dog tag to the boy's cheek. On contact, Luke began to scream in agony as the smell of burning flesh became permeable in the air. Asch felt the pain as well but ignored it as he quickly ran to his brother's side and shoved the man away from his twin, causing him to drop the trinket and crash into some trash bins and boxes, and stood protectively in front of him while Luke held his cheek in pain with both hands as the men recaptured their charge.

Once he was secured, Asch turned to check him over and the others gathered around them in concern. "Luke! Are you okay? Here, let me see your cheek." His look-alike complied as he slowly dropped his hands to show them the injury and they gasped, horrified at the sight. There on his right cheek was an angry, red burn mark that was in the shape of the dog tag with the dagger symbol etched into it. The young noble's expression turned from horrified to frigid in an instant as he gently examined the burn before healing it completely, leaving not even a scar behind and gently rubbed it to comfort his shaken up replica; his eyes downcast with his bangs casting a shadow over them and the others but Luke took a step back from the dark aura that was permeating off the male. He slowly glanced back at the man, who smirked at what he did, and gave him his most deadly glare, his emerald eyes becoming dark as they showed every bit of hatred and fury towards him. Then they began to glow a dangerous gold as well as his hair as they moved around him in the invisible wind, the energy around him rising along with his anger and the group was astonished by this and how frightening he looked while Jade looked in curiosity by this new discovery but was also concerned by how much fonons were gathering around the redhead. "How dare you." Asch snarled out, almost sounding animalistic and it echoed even though he wasn't even shouting. "How dare you harm him. You bastard, I'll make you pay for ever laying a finger on him." Luke, as well as everyone, was frightened by how terrifying he looked right now and practically shaking like a leaf when he felt the cold fury from his counterpart. Slowly, he reached out and with a trembling hand, he grasped his brother's upper sleeve and instantaneously the energy and fury stopped along with the golden glow as Asch turned back to him, surprised by the contact from his replica as he snapped back to reality. He immediately became guilty when he saw and felt how terrified he was as he trembled all over, almost close to tears; he really must have shook him up. Asch slowly reached over and grabbed his isofon, enfolding him in a warm embrace and raking his hand through his scalp to comfort the poor boy who still trembled as he buried his face into his shoulder and gripped the sleeve he was still grasping tighter. Asch began silently apologizing as he shushed him softly in his ear; he should've known better than to scare Luke like that. The boy just shook his head, not looking up at him.

'I-I'm okay. Are you…?' Asch nodded. 'Good. Just…please don't ever do that in front of me again; you really had me worried." He nodded again. 'You promise, Big Brother?'

'Yes Little Light, I promise.' Luke sighed and nodded as his trembling began to wane down. Then they all heard a maniacal laughter and they looked back to see the assassin was the one who was laughing. They all glowered at him and Asch gave a low animalistic (not a fake, but real) growl, surprising Luke and including himself, as he held his little brother closer to him protectively.

"It is the Order for ridding Auldrant of filth like him!" He yelled out before he suddenly began convulsing, as if he were having a seizure with foam gathering around his mouth and his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Everyone stared at what was transpiring in front of them in shock as the men let him go, equally shocked and Luke huddled closer to his brother as he was unable to look away from the convulsing man. And when it stopped, he collapsed to the ground and lay there unmoving. They all stood there in stunned silence at what they all saw as they were all afraid to say anything or were unable to form any words since they did not know what had just happened. Then Jade, who was unaffected by the turn of events, walked over carefully to the still form and kneeled down before tentatively putting two fingers to the assassin's neck to check for a pulse.

"He's dead." He confirmed simply in the silence and they all shook out of their trance.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Anise exclaimed, stunned.

"It seems he had a seizure of some sort, though I doubt that this was a natural cause on his part, so my guess that this was intentional."

"You mean to say that someone did this to him on purpose?" Asked the Melodist.

"Yes. He looked too healthy for his age to have them quite often. They may have done this in order to insure that doesn't give out too much information to us. But I can't be sure if it was intentional or not until I've run a full autopsy." They all shuddered at this. "If it was intentional, then whoever did this would have to trigger the seizure somehow and would have to be close by to watch him in order to know when to do it." he said this as he glanced over at a dark alley suspiciously before standing and facing the others. "What I'm concerned is that how did this man know where to look for you when none of us could. My best conclusion is that he probably followed you both here, though what I am most interested in is that dog tag." They all glanced down at the offending object that was still on the ground by the twins' feet. Luke, who was still in Asch's arms, stared fearfully and Asch scowled in disgust, growling that low growl as he backed away from it with Luke to get him at a safe distance from the terrible thing.

"Yeah, what's up with that thing? How did it burn Luke and not Asch too when he held it?" Anise pointed out.

"Maybe it's the gloves?" Florian suggested. Guy took off one of his gloves leaned down to pick it up. He tentatively touched it and Luke stiffened when he did, afraid that it might burn him as well. When nothing happened, the blonde picked it up and looked it over, feeling only cold metal. It looked like any other ordinary dog tag to him that had a strange symbol engraved into it.

"It's cold." He confirmed and the young redhead relaxed as he focused on the soothing strokes on his head from his isofon. "But I don't get it? Why am I not affected when I touch it?" He asked the Necromancer as he handed it to him. He inspected it over from the chain with a critical eye before looking over at the twins and the green-haired replica.

"Asch, would you mind taking off you glove as well?" The monarch was hesitant at first but when he thought it over, he nodded and pulled off one of his gloves as well.

'Asch no!'

'Don't worry about me, Luke.'

'But what if you get hurt too?'

'I'll be fine, if I get burned then I'll just heal myself.'

'But-'

'I'll be fine.' He repeated and Luke looked up at him before sighing and gripped his jacket in tight fists as the older reached out with a now bare hand and tapped it lightly. Nothing happened and he held it. Still nothing and the younger sighed in relief, but tensed up again and paled a bit when Asch held it closer-about three inches to be exact-making him cringe back at how close it was. Sensing how scared he was, he quickly gave it back and returned to comforting him. It wasn't just the fear of getting burned again; it was just by being close to it because of its dark aura that got him scared. 'Hey, ssh. It's okay, it's okay.'

'I know…are you okay?' He nodded.

"All I felt was warm metal, that's all." He explained to all of them, mostly to the one in his arms.

"Weird? When I touched it, it was cold." Said Guy.

"So we've confirmed that it affects only replicas." Jade concurred. "But does it affect replicas through clothing I wonder?" Asch instinctively held the boy tighter and turned away slightly, giving a low growl.

"How about I touch it?" Florian volunteered and raven gave him a look. "I want to know why I get this dark feeling I get from it by looking at the symbol." He explained.

"Dark feeling? What dark feeling do you mean?" The blonde heiress asked and he turned to them, confused.

"You guys didn't feel it?" Everyone but the boys shook their heads.

"Describe the feeling would you please?" Asked Jade and the boy thought it over as he tried to put it in words.

"Well…it just feels dark every time I see it, that's all. Almost as if my soul was telling me to stay away. Like-"

"Death has touched it." The boys chimed in and he nodded.

"Yeah, like that. How'd you know?"

"Because that's how I felt when I saw it too." Said Luke.

"Ah…so, should I touch it then?"

"No!" He replied quickly. "You've done enough yesterday, so there is no need for you to do it. I'll…do it." Asch looked down at him, surprised.

"Are you sure?" Luke nodded and stepped out of the embrace. He hesitantly reached over and held the tag between his gloved fingers. When all he felt was warm metal, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. But paused when the tag slowly became hotter and his hand shook in resistance until smoke rose from his fingers and he yelled out in pain and threw the thing off to the side when he felt the burning sensation. Asch immediately grabbed his wrist and examined his hand. They were all astonished when they found that the dog tag had quite literally burned through the material and left behind a red burn on his fingers. He quickly healed it and asked if he was okay. The boy nodded and returned back into the embrace, feeling safe again.

"Well that answers your question General." The raven commented.

"Indeed. Though I don't think that it's the metal we have to worry about but rather the symbol itself. From what you boys have described to me is that just being around it can cause an aversion to you and from touching it can cause pain to replicas, enforcing the aversion. It may be just a picture to us but to you, it is darkness."

"What makes you think that the symbol is the problem?" asked the Melodist.

"Florian, what did you feel when you were near the case?"

"Like I wanted to run away." He responded.

"Precisely. Somehow someone who wants not only Luke dead but all replicas as well if one drawing can cause the same reaction to both boys, then all of them are in danger." Their eyes widened.

"Wait, so these people are after replicas?!" Luke distressed, not liking the thought of his people being hunted down like animals.

"From what our companion here had just told us, it is precisely that with this so called 'Order' that think they are purifying the world by getting rid of replicas; hence their name called 'The Cleanse'."

"But who are these people anyway and why haven't we heard of them from other replicas?" Guy inquired.

"That is what troubles me. If any of the replicas were reported dead or missing, I would've received a notification upon any terrorist attacks immediately because my lab keeps track of every replicas that has ever been created, but so far I have received none."

"For now." Asch added gravely. "So they've only gone after Luke. Why is that and why now?" Jade brought his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Whatever the reason may be they won't stop until they have succeeded. Which means we cannot sit idly by and wait until that time comes, so we must work fast and leave for Malkuth as soon as possible."

"Finally!" the redhead exclaimed as he threw his hands up in exasperation and Luke chuckled as stepped back so they wouldn't hit him. "It's about time you said something good for a change old man, but I wouldn't put it past you for being so slow."

"Really now, you young people are so impatient these days." Asch gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Sardonic bag of bones." He muttered before grabbing his twin's hand and dragging him away towards the cable car. Tear and Natalia thought it looked cute that he was being so protective towards his replica as they followed their lovers after saying farewell to the Dark Wings. Everyone else followed just as Guy hefted the heavy case onto his shoulders for evidence and Jade directed some knights to take the body towards the morgue for autopsy. The Necromancer gave one last suspicious glance at the dark alley before following the rest of his friends.

XXXXXXXXX

In the dark alley, another dark figure stood in the shadows safe from unsuspecting eyes as they watched the group leave with the case and the body of their former associate and cursed to themselves. _Damn, that was too close; the fool almost gave out important information to the enemy and was sloppy enough to get captured by a bunch of circus people. Not only that, he failed to get the job done right as the replica still lives. And with the Necromancer and the original protecting it, it'll be harder to kill it, especially with Balfour starting to figure us out._ He would be very dangerous opponent to their plans and it didn't help that the replica had his band of friends, who are indeed very powerful people just as Rain specified, protecting him as well. "This could be troublesome...I must report this immediately." They said to themselves before taking their leave.


	8. Ch 8

Ch. 8

When they made it back to the manor, their mother immediately engulfed her boys in a hug, happy to see them both all right along with their father and their uncle. They asked what had happened and demanded why they left against their orders. The group went into a long explanation about the events and discussed the issue of this unknown Order and how they seemed to be after Luke at the moment. The two men became concerned about this and asked the blonde Marquess to show them the evidence they acquired. Once seeing the symbol, King Ingobert told one of the knights to send word about this to Grand Chokma immediately and Jade excused himself to go do the autopsy report before taking his leave.

By the time he got back, dinner had already started as he sat down. "So what did you find, General?" his Grace asked and the boys scrunched up their faces in disgust.

"Um, Father? Is this really an okay time to ask him that right after he just cut opened a body?" Luke pointed out, the others having the same thoughts.

"Bit squeamish are you, Luke?" Jade commented as he ate, which earned his an annoyed glare from the monarch and shake of bewilderment from the elder sibling as he thought that only someone that isn't human could eat right after cutting up a dead person and not be bothered by it. The man did indeed have a sick sense of humor. "But I'll save you all the gory details and go straight to the point. What I found in the man was a small fon machine that was injected into the cranium to cause a large amount of electricity to go through the brainwaves and into the nervous, which would have been the reason why the seizure was caused and that it was indeed intentional. And the only way to activate it would have to be used by a device and operated manually at a close range."

"So someone was there after all." Anise clarified and he nodded.

"Indeed."

"By the way Asch," the redhead turned to his look-alike who sat next to him, "what happened to you earlier?" he looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after the man pounced on me with that tag." The others turned their interest onto him as well.

"Hey yeah! I've been meaning to ask you guys about that." Said the raven.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"After the man attacked Luke again, you were extremely angry-which is understandable and all-but when you glared at him, you suddenly changed." Natalia explained. His eyes widened in realization.

"Oh that! Well honestly, I'm not exactly sure." He looked down at his hand. "I remember feeling this hot anger and this powerful concentration of seventh fonons coursing through me. I don't really know, it didn't really concern me before because I just felt so...angry and all I wanted was to make that asshole pay for hurting Luke!" he stated the last part angrily with a tight fist and for a moment, his eyes began to glow gold and his hair began to shift slightly with a low growl rumbling in his throat, surprising everyone at the table. Luke quickly grabbed the fist and the glow instantly waned down until it stopped, bringing him back to his old self as he looked to the replica and sighed. "I did it again, didn't I?" they all nodded and he turned away. "Dammit!" he sighed again tiredly and squeezed the hand that he was now holding. "Sorry, I...kind of lost it there."

"It was like you were some kind of animal." Said Tear. "Luke, can you do that too?" he shook his head as he rubbed his original's hand comfortingly.

"No, but it must be a new ability he acquired from Lorelei, so I'll probably have it too soon enough."

Jade hummed thoughtfully. "Right now, what we do know about it is that it seems too react from extreme anger, or maybe even mild anger at that. Though we can't know for sure until we do some tests over at my lab. Of course, the decision is yours if you want to have it tested?" the scions turned to each other in contemplation before they looked and nodded.

"It's best that we do if we want to know how to control it and how to use it." he answered and with that, the discussion ended as they all continued to eat and went off to bed for the night to get an early start for the long trip.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure you boys will be all right?" Lady Suzanne asked the following morning to her sons at the front who were all packed up along with the others, both of them carrying a violin case. Their parents woke up right before them and told them all to have breakfast before they would see them off. She was quite reluctant to see them leave, their father feeling the same; they had just got their other son back home and were finally becoming a family for the first time. But they knew that they had to in order to help Luke and to stop this unknown threat. They gave their mother a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Mother, we'll be back before you know it." Luke replied positively and she sighed before giving a reluctant smile back.

"All right, but just...promise me that you boys will look out for each other and come home safe."

"We will." They answered.

"We'll be sure to investigate as much as we can from here and we'll let you know on what we find." Their father informed and they nodded before they all said their good-byes. On the cable car, Luke wore a large grin on his face and noticing his happy mood, Asch glanced at him curiously.

"What's got you in such a good mood all of a sudden?" he asked and the young Viscount turned to him in surprise.

"Huh? Oh, it's just that it's been so long since all of us traveled together again that's all and I kind of missed it."

"Hey yeah, it has been awhile hasn't it?" said Anise.

"Yeah, and most of the times it's always when something bad happens." Guy added jokingly.

"Only difference it that Asch is with us this time, riight Big Brother?" Luke added with a sly grin and the other rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So when is the Alboire arriving Necromancer?" he asked as they all stepped off the cable car and walked down the streets of Baticul.

"The Alboire should be arriving shortly, so you needn't worry." It was agreed that they would be traveling by air since it was the fastest way possible to get to Malkuth then by boat or landship.

"Well I wouldn't have to if we had left for Malkuth _days_ ago!" he retorted.

"Oh dear me, and here I thought I was being considerate for your health but apparently I was wrong."

"And here_ I_ thought you weren't irritating enough!"

"Temper, temper." He tsked at the young man and just when he was about to make another comeback, he and Luke paused when they heard something and looked up to see the Alboire IV-the new model-coming towards the city. The group stopped near the new landing pad they had installed for the Alboires as they watched the flying machine come closer and land. As the hatch opened and stairs emerged, Ginji's white hair popped out as he waved cheerfully down at them and came down to meet them as they approached. Once down, he exchanged greetings with everyone and just when he about to greet Luke, he did a double take when he noticed there were two of them now and looked between them in bewilderment. But that bewilderment turned into amazement when he realized who the other was and grinned from ear to ear when he did.

"Mr. Asch! Is that you? Holy Yulia, I almost didn't even recognize you without your hair pulled back and your God-General uniform!" the redhead grinned and nodded in greeting.

"It's good to see you as well, Ginji. How have you been?"

"Oh I've been good, but I'm just glad to see that you're really back. I've heard the rumors spreading about two redhead noblemen but I wasn't sure if they were true or not." He stated, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly and the young monarch just nodded. "So, is everyone ready to board?" they all nodded and began to climb inside before taking their seats and taking off.

"So Ginji, how's Noelle?" asked Luke, sitting next to the tanned hair Commandant and held her hand.

"She's been doing good, Noelle misses you guys though and wanted to come see you all, but she's been really swamped with deliveries lately and couldn't make it." after Eldrant, Noelle and Ginji along with Ashton have become quite popular with other companies and now have shops that build new models of Alboires as well as make business by being a delivery and transportation company. They even had Anise to fundraise for them to have a school for people who want to become pilots and dream to fly or to just create the flying machines. "Though it would've been funny to see her reaction if she saw you two."

"Well tell her I gave her my best."

"I will, Asch."

"I'm Luke." He chuckled out and the pilot smacked his forehead and glanced back at him apologetically.

"Sorry about that, Luke."

"It's quite all right, I've gotten used to people mistaking me for Asch."

"Still, you would think I knew which one is who."

"Really, it's fine. Besides, it's kind of funny to see people's reactions whenever they get it wrong."

"Speak for yourself, it may be funny but people shouldn't mistake me for a moron like you." The older commented across from Luke, sitting next to the Kimlascan Princess. The other glared at him playfully.

"Well at least I'm not a grouch like you."

"Better that than stupid." He countered and the other just stuck his tongue out at him before proceeding to cross his arms and pout dramatically like the kid he was, slumping in his seat. Everyone else just chuckled at their playful banter. Then Meiu zoomed from window to window to see the world from different angles, but Asch got annoyed as he kept passing by his head and sneered at the fur ball. "Quit moving around you stupid It!" he said when the thing was about to pass him and flicked him in the direction of his replica. The poor cheagle went flying from the strength of the flick and Luke caught him before he could pass him and set him down gently on Tear's lap. "By the way, how long will the flight take until we reach Grand Chokma?"

"Only two days, not long Luke."

"Asch." He corrected and the man pulled at his hair in frustration. Seriously, they had just gone over this!

"Argh! Sorry!"

"Really, now how long do you both intend on torturing the poor boy when he simply got it right." Jade stated and they all turned in shocked to see the smirking redheads.

"What! Again?" Anise exasperated and they snickered, as they held up their hands, guilty.

"Well, looks like the jig is up Asch."

"It seems so Luke." He responded with a what-can-you-do shrug before they both burst out into stitches and the other's groaned, besides Jade who grinned in amusement and Ginji who had no clue what was going on. Guy, who sat next to the pilot, patted him on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Don't worry about it, they've been doing this to all of us for awhile now. Either for some unknown reason or to just mess with us, but it's usually just the latter." The man made an "ah" statement at this.

"Actually there was a reason behind this." Said Luke.

"Oh yeah, and that would be?" Anise dragged out, not believing them. They glanced at each other and grinned.

"We felt like it." was their reply and they all rolled their eyes.

"I knew it." they just shrugged before getting up to go to one of the chambers in the back to change. Though the answer they gave was actually true, it was only half the reason why. The other reason was actually important but they knew their friends wouldn't approve of what they were doing if they actually told them what it was.

_-Last night-_

_After everyone went to bed, making sure everyone was asleep, Asch quietly crept out of his room and out into the hallway courtyard as he made his way to Luke's room. Looking around to see if anyone was around, he used their link-not wanting to risk knocking-and gave a mental nudge until he felt his isofon stir and get up. He waited until a sleepy Luke opened the door with a yawn and rubbed his eye tiredly. He looked to him sleepily with some confusion._

_"Hey Asch, what's up?" said Luke in a quiet voice. "Why are you here in the middle of the night?"_

'I need to talk to you.' _He said telepathically and the younger yawned again but knew that this was serious if Asch had to come to his room in the middle of the night just so he could talk to him in private, even though he could have used their link during dinner._

'Okay, so what's up?' _he asked telepathically as well, but the older shook his head._

'Not out here.' _Seeing what he was getting at, he stepped aside to let his original in and silently closed the door behind him so as to not disturb the sleeping cheagle. _

'What is it Asch? What was so important that you couldn't tell me at dinner?'

'I didn't want Jade or the others to get suspicious and this was the only time I could talk to you alone...Luke, I think we should keep practicing on our switching.' _The younger looked at him flabbergasted._

'That's it? You woke me up just so you could tell me we needed to practice more on switching?' _he stated, a little annoyed._

'Not just that but our training as well.'

'...Okay, I get the part about training, but why switching?'

'We need to work harder on controlling our powers in order to protect ourselves incase if the Cleanse captures one of us instead of killing you incase they think I was you when we switch, so we have to perfect it if they do.' _Now Luke was wide-awake as he began to worry about the thought of Asch being mistaken for him and getting captured._

'You think they'll try to capture me?' _the other nodded._

'If killing you isn't an option to them anymore, then they would most likely try to capture and then kill you.'

'Then...maybe it's best if we don't switch at all.'

'No Luke, if they do then it's best if they think I'm you when they do.' _His eyes widened as he finally got what his brother was saying and shook his head slowly in denial, not truly believing this._

'No...no Asch! They'll kill you if they mistake you for me!'

'They won't Luke; if they capture me instead then I could gather info on them. And I have a better chance of escaping then you do because I'm not affected by the resonance or the symbols.'

'That's exactly my point!' _he argued._ 'If they see that you're not affected then they'll find out that you're not me and kill you on the spot!'

'Tch. They can try but I highly doubt it, and if it does come to that than I'll just pretend that I am.' _But Luke disagreed._

'That won't work because you can't get burn by them either!'

'Then I'll just burn myself.' _He replied simply and Luke stared appalled by this._

'Asch!'

'What! Luke, this is serious. These people are dead set on killing you by any means necessary even after that assassin stated that they were going to rid the world of replicas; just look at what they did to those people! They came this close to getting the job done right and I'll be damned to let them try again! I am not going to risk losing you to those psychotic bastards.'

'AND I'M NOT GOING TO RISK LOSING YOU BECAUSE OF ME!' T_his took Asch aback as the younger ran to him and held onto him in a death grip, his shoulders shaking in silent sobs as Luke buried his face into his shoulder. The older sighed as he hugged him back and raked his hand through the other's scalp like before to calm the crying boy down, feeling his tears soak through his night shirt._ 'I-I can't l-lose you Big Brother. I've already lost you once, I don't think I can-I can handle it again. I don't want to lose you Big Brother; I love you way too much to see you die again.' _Asch was quite surprised that his little brother said that he loved him and was saddened by how desperate and terrified he sounded for not wanting him to not leave._

'Luke.' _When he didn't get a response, he tried again._ 'Luke, look at me.' _He said more firmly but the boy shook his head, so ever so gently. He removed his twin's hands from their grip around him and held them out in front of him. What he saw made his heart crack. Seeing his little light's crying face as his bottom lip trembled and his cheeks overflowing with tears reminded him again that Luke was still a little boy crying out for his sibling to stay with him. It was a face he never wanted to see again and he vowed to never see it on him again. Luke still refused to look at him as he continued to sob with his eyes closed that were still flowing with tears, the occasional hiccup here and there. He wiped his isofon's tears away the best he could-even though it was pointless since more would replace them-and cupped his cheeks in between his hands, rubbing a thumb over the previous wound unconsciously. "Luke. Look at me." He repeated out loud and that time he finally did. "I understand that you're scared of losing me again...but you have to be brave for me and stay strong. I may not look it but you have no idea of how terrified I am at the thought of losing you too. If you don't believe me, then feel my emotions." Luke did and was astonished when he felt that he was just as scared as him._

_Asch smiled sadly._ 'After finally knowing what is feels like to have an annoying little brother for once and finally understanding you after everything, I just. Can't. Lose you Little Light. Not ever. You made me remember what it was like to have a home again and to have a family and friends. You're the reason why I stayed and what it feels like to smile again and that I could forget about my past and move on towards the future. You made me see that not everything in this world is terrible and there are things here that are beautiful, so that's why...I can't let you be killed by those people. I want to protect you Luke, not because you're my replica but because you're my little brother, my little light. And I love you too much to see you disappear from my life this time either. I don't want to go back to the life I had before and be alone again. Because if you're gone then there would be no reason for me to stay here anymore if it doesn't feel like home. As much as I love Natalia, not even she can make me feel like I am home because nothing would be home again. You are my home, you are the reason why everything matters now and if I lose you...then I would lose everything.' _His voice quivered at the last part and the younger was surprised to see a single tear slide down his face. Never in his life since he met Asch had he ever seen him cry before and hearing these words made him cry harder as he buried his face into his original's chest. The other just wrapped his arms around him and held him for what its worth, laying his cheek on the top of the replica's head._ 'Shh, it's okay. I'm right here.' _he consoled._

'Brother...promise me if you do get captured, you'll come back home safe.' _The redhead chuckled._

'I made that promise before didn't I? What makes you think I'm gonna break it this time?' _Luke gave a watery chuckle._ 'But remember this Luke, even if they try again or if they kidnap you, just know that I'll always protect and I'll always find you and bring you home.' _The boy nodded and the other hugged him tighter._

'I love you, Big Brother.' _Asch smiled and kissed the top of his head._

'Love you too, Little Brother.'

_-Now-_

Just remembering about last night made the young Viscount want to cry again, but he held them back so the others wouldn't worry and he promised he would stay strong for Asch; if not for him than at least for himself or the others. Noticing his change in mood as he attached his maestro sword, Asch put a comforting hand on his shoulder, already guessing what made the other upset. Luke turned his head towards him and smiled to assure that he was fine and they walked back to the cockpit before sitting down. The girls gave them suspicious looks but when assured that they were them, the girls smiled. Tear reminded Luke of their dinner date and he chuckled. For the rest of the ride, they all just talked and enjoyed each other's company (and Jade annoying the crap out of the former God-General). The twin's even put on a show for them with their violins (after some initial begging from the younger redhead's part) and they mostly just forget about their situation for the moment and just enjoyed the flight. Finally after two days of flying, they made it to Grand Chokma as Ginji landed in front of the fomicy lab, upon Jade's request, and they disembarked. "When do you guys want me to pick you up?" the pilot asked over the noise of the engine.

"Perhaps about a week or two at the most would be sufficient!" Jade called back and the man nodded before taking off again.

"Why two weeks?" Florian asked.

"We need to find out more information here about this Cleanse and that amount of time should give us enough on who and where they are, what do they gain and so on." said Jade. "Also I still need to fix our little problem for every replica and you three and examine this interesting piece of metal we have in our possession, so it will take some time…And while we're at it, why don't I do a check-up on a certain pair of twins?" he stated slyly with an evil grin to the pair who either laughed nervously or huffed and turned their head away.

"I don't need a freaking check-up." The older grumbled and the younger rolled his eyes before giving him a stern look.

"Asch, we've talked about this." He just waved him off.

"I know, I know." they all gave a bemused look at them and Luke shook his head.

"Don't ask, you'll find out soon enough." Asch gave him a glare. "What? Anyway, should we go into the examination room?" the General nodded as he shifted his glasses up.

"Yes, let's do that shall we? Now then, who shall I start on first?" he asked with a grin and the three boys paled slightly while Guy who stood next to the man sidestepped away. The way he said it sounded as if he was about to butcher them.

"Okay, now I know I don't need a check-up." Said Asch as he was about to make a run for it, but Luke saw this beforehand and grabbed him by the arm without even turning to him. The older Viscount grumbled at him. "Look, I'm fine so I don't need one!" he insisted irritably. "Besides, the old man already gave me a check-up back home."

"That incident did not count as a proper check-up. He needs to do a full preliminary examination on you to see how your powers work and compare them with mine as well your physical and mental health; you wouldn't go to the doctor in Baticul to see how you're fonons are until I had to drag you there, so it's better if someone you know does it." he stated matter-of-factly. "Besides, you're gonna have to get over this eventually, so might as well now and with Jade."

"That's exactly my point!" then the answers began to click in the blonde noble's head.

"Wait, Asch are you...afraid of doctors?" at this, he paused in his struggling and Guy gaped. "You are aren't you?"

"I told you one of them would find out." Said Luke and his counterpart scowled at him.

"Shut up, Dreck!" at his unannounced confession, their eyes widened in surprise. Then Anise bursted out laughing.

"No way!" she exclaimed in amusement. "The fearless and powerful Asch is scared of going to the doctors?!" he growled at her.

"Shut up! I'm not afraid! I just don't trust them and I have every reason to be, especially when it's going to be that pedophile!" Asch stated defensively as he pointed to the General. The man feigned a look of hurt but his red eyes shined with amusement.

"Now that's just mean, calling me a pedophile. Your description of what I am is deeply appalling." Asch was about to snap at the sarcastic man when he suddenly felt a painful tug on his ear and was being dragged by it towards the building by his replica, the latter having no choice in the matter as he struggled.

"Ow, ow, OW! Will you let go of my ear you stupid dreck! I am not some kind of child!" his twin sighed tiredly.

"From my perspective, you are right now." Said Luke. "Now you are going to have that examination whether you like it or not, even if I'm gonna have to knock you out in order for you to stay or keep ahold of your ear for you to stay still. So until you cooperate, I'm gonna treat you as one."

"I told you I don't NEED IT! OW!" he protested.

"Struggling will only make it hurt worse."

"I'll hurt you a lot worse if you don't let go! OW!" Luke sighed again as he continued to tug harder on his brother's ear, ignoring the complaints and threats coming from his mouth while everyone just sweat-dropped, dumbfounded by the amusing sight of the redheads' retreating forms. Then the raven couldn't help but laugh again at the whole thing.

"I'm sorry, but that was just way too funny. Not the whole doctor thing cause that's understandable, no offense General." The man shrugged indifferently. "But seeing him being dragged away by the ear, and by Luke of all people, is just hilarious!" the others chuckled as well.

"Yes, that was quite amusing to see." Said Natalia. "Though I must ask myself this, why is he so afraid of doctors I wonder? He's never had a problem with them before?"

"Well can you really blame him, he was experimented on against his own will around the age of ten by a psycho, so it's no wonder he doesn't trust doctors." Said Guy and they fell silent.

"Oh...I didn't think-" he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's all right Princess, none of us knew." She stiffly nodded but still felt guilty. Even though she's known Asch since they were kids she still felt like she didn't know him at all, even back then. Though they've been apart since his kidnapping that's still no excuse; it was foolish of her to think that none of it affected him. She's loved him since the day they were born and she tried many ways to get to know him better, but he was always so closed off from the world and he rarely showed emotions towards her. Now he smiles more and laugh more often and he's more open with his feelings than he was three years ago and when they were children, but he seems to only do that when he's around Luke and sometimes around her. Around her he shows compassion and love towards her, but around Luke he's like any older brother who cares very much about their sibling and shows all of his emotions towards him. When he's around other people, he's quiet and keeps to himself; even around his mother she can only get a few smiles out of him. But around his replica it's like a candle has been lit in him and he's joking and laughing around everyone. It makes her a bit jealous of her beloved cousin because Luke knew everything there is to know about Asch, including his worst fears.

Don't get her wrong she still loves Luke, but her heart will always belong to Asch and she's happy that they found each other so they can smile again, considering how life has mistreated them and they needed each other to be happy...but she wishes she can make Asch feel happy too the way Luke does for him. Although it is quite understandable considering how Luke has that affect on everyone he meets. She didn't know how he does it but he could make any room light up by just smiling or laughing, and you couldn't help but smile back (even Jade). He could make anyone feel like they were special and he does it without even trying. _Right then, I'll just have to try harder._ She thought determinedly as she followed the others into the large building. But what they saw made them froze in panic at the sight of the former God-General.


	9. Ch 9

Ch. 9

When they stepped inside, they didn't know what to make of Asch's state. The redhead was pale and was frozen in panic as he stared at something in fear, as if he were seeing a ghost and they were unnerved by it as they've have never seen him so scared before. Luke was standing right in front of him with his hands on his shoulders as he tried to snap him out of his catatonic state. "Asch! Asch! You have to calm down! You have to try to breathe or you'll pass out! ASCH!" the group looked more closely and was astonished to see that he was close to hyperventilating by how fast his breathing was becoming. Tear stepped up.

"Luke, what's-"

"He's having a panic attack from when he was kidnapped!" he explained urgently and Natalia was about to go to him but was stopped by Jade and she looked to him outraged and confused as to why he was keeping her from her lover. Luke, however, was grateful that he did.

"Jade, why did you-"

"Let Luke handle this." He ordered and she was about to protest but he shook his head. "I don't think your voice will get through to him at this rate. Right now he needs him and it seems that this has happened before has it not, Luke?" the boy looked down and nodded sadly and the heiress was shocked by this. Why didn't Asch tell her?

"No..." they all directed their attention back on the other redhead to see him trembling and shaking his head slowly in denial with tears close to spilling, surprising them. "No," he muttered again, "...please no...I...stop...No. Noo!" he yelled out, holding his head and shutting his eyes as he shook his head continuously from the memories flooding his mind, muttering under his breath.

_"No! Master Van! Why are you doing this to me?"_

_"I'm sorry Luke, but this is for all of the lives you will be purifying and in order to do that, we need your power."_

_"Let me go! I wanna go home! I WANNA GO HOME!"_

_"There won't be a home for you any longer child. __There is no point in returning to the manor. Just give it up. We've already made a replacement for you...and to them, you are no longer needed."_

_"It hurts! Make it stop! NO! AAAAAH!"_

"ASCH!" Asch opened his eyes from the memories and looked up through the blur of his tears to see Luke standing in front of him, looking panicked and concerned. Vaguely through his fogged up mind he could tell how scared he was for him. His whole body shook from the ordeal. Memories. They were just memories. Not real...but they were real before and knowing this his hands dropped to his sides as his knees buckled from under him. "Whoa!" luckily, Luke caught him in time and kneeled in front of his frightened original. "Asch, can you hear me? Just try to breathe slowly okay? Take in slow deep breaths like before." It took a minute for the words to register before he complied. "That's it, just keep on breathing Brother." He instructed calmly with a gentle, warm smile.

"...L-Luke?" he stuttered out weakly.

"That's right. I'm right here." he said gently as he pulled the male into a warm embrace and held him like Asch did last night. The older still shook in fear as he gripped his isofon's jacket tightly with shaky hands to anchor himself to reality, tears still falling.

"Van...h-he..." Luke shushed him softly.

"I know Brother, I know. But Van is dead now, he can't get to you anymore. No one is going to get you and make you go through that again." He didn't respond but his only indication that he heard him was that he held his little brother tighter. He could hear a curse being said in the background-most likely from Guy-but he could care less right now as he tried to focus on the gentle strokes on his head. He didn't care how weak and pathetic he looked to the others or how scared he had made Natalia (which he'll probably have to talk to her later); he just needed Luke there. He just wanted his little brother right now so he'll know that everything will be okay and that he was safe.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took ten minutes for Asch to completely snap of it, but he was still too shaken to even stand on his own, so thankfully he didn't when Guy brought over a chair for him to sit. Not surprisingly, the episode had brought attention to the employees nearby as some stared in bewilderment or concern, but Jade quickly shooed them away; the last thing Asch needed was to bring more attention to him. Right now he was currently leaning his head against Luke's side who stood beside him with an arm around his shoulders, his face still a bit pale. But at least his tears had stopped and he didn't have that haunted expression on his face any longer. "Luke, might I ask what caused the sudden attack? Surely it wasn't just the fear of doctors?" Natalia narrowed her eyes disapprovingly at the Necromancer.

"Jade, you should not ask something so personal right after he went through an episode!"

"It's fine." Asch croaked out and she whirled to him in surprise, not expecting for him to respond let alone be okay with it. She sighed sadly, feeling useless and ashamed that she wasn't able to help him. Luke rubbed his shoulder consolingly and gestured with his head behind him. They looked over and immediately understood when they saw a large fomicry machine on the far side of the room. So that's what happened. Then Luke began to explain that this was the second time he's had a panic attack and also that he had had many before in the past. The first time it had happened was the day before the others came to Baticul. They were in the library at the castle doing some reports when Asch had accidently dropped a book beside him, so when he went to pick it up he paused and froze in place. Luke had naturally become concerned for him but was stunned when he felt a wave of fear go through him and instantly went to his side. He had panicked when nothing he did couldn't seem to get through to him at first and how pale he had become. He didn't know what to do so he did the only thing he could do, he tried bringing him out of it by yelling his name and was relieved that he got a response before telling him to breathe and when he looked at the book, he found it open to a page with a picture of a fomicry machine printed on.

"I see, so that's what triggered the reaction; a psycho traumatic response. I can understand how that must have happened because when extracting data from a living being, it can cause excruciating pain and most people often do not survive the process while some that do become traumatized from the experience. You were very fortunate to have survived from it, but not unscarred...I humbly apologize for what my research has done to you." The older noble scoffed.

"Don't flatter yourself old man, it's not like it's your fault this happened to me and it's not like you were the one that personally did it." _Besides, if it didn't than I wouldn't have Luke._ He added silently. Jade nodded and adjusted his glasses.

"Very well then, but rest assured that you won't be going on that machine because it isn't the same one when you were young. This machine may look like it but the function of it is quite different and is only used for medical purposes and studying data from replicas only." He explained and the noble inwardly sighed but stiffened when he had mentioned that it was used for replicas. Which meant...

"Don't worry Asch," he looked up to see his look-alike smiling in reassurance, "I've been on that thing a hundred times and I'm perfectly fine; I just get tired and dizzy afterwards." Still, that didn't bring him much comfort to see his little brother on that thing. In fact it worried him. "I'll be fine. How about I go first with the examinations?" he suggested to the blue-clad man.

"That would be wise if you do. And also, I would like to know how you're mental health is as well." Luke stiffened at this but tried to feign it off as confusion, though his brother wasn't fooled and knew why.

"What are you talking about?" he replied.

"I mean exactly what I said. You've had panic attacks as well, haven't you?" he stated bluntly, more as a fact than a question. Luke sighed and turned away, smiling ruefully.

"Like I said, I can't hide anything from you, Jade." Everyone gasped and stared at him in astonishment.

"Luke, why haven't you told us this?" Tear demanded.

"Yeah Luke, we're your friends!" said Anise. "Why didn't you? We could've helped!" he turned back to them apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want you all to worry about me because we were too busy stopping Van for me to tell you and it wasn't the best time to." Said Luke. "Besides, I haven't had another episode since after I came back."

"Luke...when did these attacks start?" Guy questioned hesitantly and everyone, except Florian and Asch, tensed up. The young noble looked hesitant to answer but knew he had to.

"...Since Akzeriuth..." and that answered everyone's question and they became guilt ridden as they remembered that terrible events (excluding Florian). How they treated him and turned away from him when he needed them the most; it's no wonder that he's had panic attacks and they certainly didn't help his drive. Seeing their expressions, he quickly backtracked and waved his hand in front of him. "But really guys, it's not your fault. It was a long time ago and I handled it just fine."

"But Luke...we weren't there for you." Natalia argued. "You shouldn't have had to deal with it on your own, especially when you really needed us."

"Seriously guys, it's not your fault. I had brought that upon myself and I've accepted what happened, so it's not a big deal anymore." He insisted. "Look I'm fine and I said I haven't had another episode since then. And you're here now so don't feel guilty over what you didn't do and be glad about what you're doing now." They were about to interject but he held up a hand to stop them. "Nope, I don't want to hear it. I'm fine, you're forgiven and we're still friends so let's just be done with it okay? Okay! Now, onward with the examinations and let's get started on the tests Dr. Obnoxious!" he stated with as much enthusiasm as he could muster and Asch couldn't help but snicker at his response and their baffled expressions. They all shook their heads as they mused at how stubborn they were, but couldn't help but smile.

"You and your brother both. Now why is it that you two insist on giving me these horrendous nicknames?" Jade mused out loud and they both grinned.

"Because they fit." Was their only reply and they all chuckled. Then Meiu chose that moment to appear as he struggled to carry a glass of water with his tiny body and floated over to Luke; Tear felt sorry for the cheagle but couldn't help thinking how cute it looked, blushing.

"Here's that...water...you asked for...Master!" the young noble quickly relieved him of his burden and nodded in thanks before handing the glass over to his twin who thankfully had regained all his color.

"Here Brother." He gratefully took the glass with shaky hands to quench his parched throat. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Natalia staring down sadly and he knew that he would have to talk to her soon, but right now he just wanted to get this all over with and take a nap after. After giving back the empty cup, he began to unsteadily get to his feet with Luke's help.

"Um Asch, are you sure you're okay enough to stand?" asked the green-clad boy, worried. But he just waved him off.

"I'm fine," he grunted out, "let's just get this over with so I can get the hell out of here and sleep." Luke then led him towards the medical wing and feeling unsure what to do, Florian just followed them since he would be getting the same check-up and the rest followed after them as well.

XXXXXXXXXXX

For the past hour and a half, Jade had been giving each of the three a proper examination as he took blood samples and asked them standard questions while the others sat in the corner, out of the way in the room. The man had asked for them to wait outside but they all insisted on being there for the boys and he had no choice but to let them. Even though it was just standard check-ups, it took longer than expected because he had never examined Asch, so he had to get a completely new medical document for him...And other than that, the younger redhead had to constantly reprimand his original every time in order for him to cooperated; it was actually laughable to see Luke scold Asch like a child but they stifled in their laughter so they wouldn't embarrass the redhead. "All right, I think that should do for your check-up. Now it's time that we take you to the next room. Come along."

The General then led them all down the hall and into another room where it had monitors on both sides of the room with a wall in the middle that had a glass windowpane and a large fon machine attached to the other wall with a medium size hole in the middle and two men in lab coats manning the controls. As always, the Malkuth noble rushed forward and began to look it over with eyes full of wonder as he imagined in his mind on how it would work. "Now don't be taking it apart on us Guy, we're going to need that right now to examine them." He teased and the man narrowed his blue eyes at him. Jade walked over to where the hole was, pushed a button and, to their amazement, slowly popped out what looked like a bed. "Now this fon machine is used to scan for brainwave activity and the body structure by using radiation and the fonons around us as well as the synthetic fonons created." After the events, Spinoza has been deeply indebted in rewriting his mistakes by working on the problem of the decreasing of fonons. Because of the deactivation of the Planet Storm, there had been slowly less and less fonons. So in order to cure the problem, him as well as Jade and some scientist have been researching on creating machines that creates synthetic fonons as well as recycle old ones to make them reusable and so far they have been successful in doing so, but are still in the process of researching. "It won't hurt a bit, I assure you. All it'll do is scan your body with a light and it'll only take about five minutes for it to do a complete scan. You won't have to do anything, just lay here and relax. Simple enough." He explained, looking at the twins in amusement when he saw Luke keeping a tight hold onto the other redhead's arm so he wouldn't escape while said redhead glared at him. "Now then, Florian? Please step up and lay here." Giving his staff to Anise, Florian walked over to the General and lay down on the bed before he felt him stick something attached to wires on both sides of his temples.

"Um, what are these for?" he asked curiously.

"These wires will help me analyze your brainwave activity."

"Oh."

"Now just relax and stay still or we'll have to start the procedure over." He instructed and turned to the others. "Everyone else, please go behind the window." They did as they were told and looked through the pane as they watched him and the two men in lab coats start up the machine. Florian became a bit nervous but tried to calm his heart rate when he heard the machine whirl to life as the bed moved from beneath him and a light appeared above him. After about five minutes, the light died down and he felt the bed move again. "You can get off now, Florian. Asch, you're next." He called tauntingly as the boy got off and Luke had to practically drag his counterpart over to the fon machine and force him to lie down.

"I hate you." He grumbled out.

"No you don't." Luke crowed out with an impish grin, making him glare at him as the man placed the wires on the noble's temples.

"You, however, can go die in a ditch." Jade smirked.

"But dying in a ditch is so unsanitary." He retorted back and the other growled. "Now that we got that out of the way, shall we get started?" he said, not really asking and Asch was about to get up to let him have it but Luke brought him back down on the bed and he glared at the younger again. "Now just relax and stay still, _if_ you can do that?" he said sarcastically as he went back to the controls while Luke went back behind the window. Asch kept grumbling under his breath but his heart leapt into his throat when the bed started moving and began to panic slightly. He tried telling himself to breathe normally and reminded himself that he wasn't ten anymore, that he would be fine...But all that flew out the window when the light came on and he froze.

"Sir, his heart rate is going up." One of the men in lab coats said urgently.

"He's having a panic attack. Luke, you need to calm him down immediately!"

"Already ahead of you, Jade." Luke answered back as he focused on his brother's panicked form.

'Asch! Asch can you hear me?' after a minute of waiting, he got a response.

'...Luke?'

'I'm here Asch, you need to try and relax right now.' He instructed.

'I-I can't.'

'Yes you can,' he encouraged, 'just focus on my voice. Don't pay attention to anything around you, only my voice. Now, try to breathe slowly and don't think of anything. Breathe with me Asch, in and out...in and out.' Luke instructed calmly as Asch listened and breathed. He thought of nothing but his breathing and the comfort of his little brother's voice instructing through it to him through their bond. Soon enough, his body began to relax a bit and his heart rate slowed gradually down to a steady beat. Luke smiled proudly. 'That's it Brother, just keep on breathing like that. You're almost done.' He assured and Jade gave him a nod in thanks before continuing while everyone else let out a breath of relief as they were all worried for the young noble. After five minutes past, he was finished and as soon as the bed pulled completely out the young noble immediately yanked off the wires and in a blur was quickly by his look-alike's side, surprising all of them as his breathing was erratic and his wide emerald eyes moved in every direction in pure terror and paranoia with his face as gaunt as a bed sheet. Luke slowly put his hands on his terrified counterpart and made him so as he was facing him. He gently raked a hand through his bangs he thought comforting words to his twin to soothe his nerves and eventually, Asch began to calm down before resting his head on Luke's shoulder and the other rubbed his back soothingly. 'You okay?' he asked, concerned.

'I'll...I'll be fine. Just...need a minute.' Luke held up a finger to Jade who nodded in understanding.

'Take all the time you need, Big Brother.' He nodded in response and they stood there in silence for a minute until Asch slowly pulled away from him, feeling embarrassed for showing how weak he was again. 'There's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's only natural after what you've been through.' The older grunted in response before sitting down in a chair that was in the room as he watched the younger calmly walk over to take his turn. Five minutes later, they were finished.

"Now then," Jade spoke, "all we have to do is examine Luke and Florian on the data machine and we'll be finished for the day. Tomorrow I should be able to have come up with a solution to our problem, and then we'll look into the twins abilities." They made their way back down the hall, and to the young monarch's dismay, back to the entrance of the building where the dreaded fomicry machine was. Everyone watched apprehensively at him staring at the machine, worried that he might get another panic attack and the princess walked up to him.

"Asch-"

"I'm fine." He replied rather quickly, clenching his hand in a tight and biting the inside of his cheek.

The blue-clad General cleared his throat. "Luke, if you please." Luke nodded and was about to go up to the machine but stopped short when he felt a tug on his wrist and looked over to see Asch looking at him worriedly. He smiled in reassurance.

"Asch, it's all right." Said Luke. "There's nothing to worry about. It won't hurt me; I'll just be a little disoriented after and after I get some rest I'll be fine. It'll only take ten minutes and when we're through we can leave, okay?" the older still looked unsure but finally conceded and let go. He watched him go upon the platform and lay down on it as he heard the Necromancer give orders to the people that were manning the fon machine as well.

"Let's begin. Activating Replica Data Machine." Luke slowly closed his eyes as he felt the familiar feeling of drowsiness until he fell asleep at the same time, a green light enveloped him with holographic screens surrounded the outer part of the machine. Asch sensed that Luke was sleeping, but he couldn't help but worry for him as he watched a couple lab coats look at virtual screens near his replica's head and take notes on clipboards to record whatever information. Finally after ten long minutes, the RDM (Replica Data Machine) deactivated and he felt Luke stir and the next thing everyone knew he was up there in a flash and by his twin's side, ignoring the surprised sounds he got from the employees near him as his only focus was on Luke as he helped the boy up and slowly make their way back towards the to others. Asch sat him down on a chair and began to look him over critically before sighing in relief as Luke gave him a tired smile and he gave one back. He grabbed another chair to sit next to him and his sibling proceeded to use his shoulder as a pillow so he could take a quick nap. Their friends smiled at the fond sight and Florian took that moment to his turn.

XXXXXXXXX

Once they'd finished, Jade told them that they should go on ahead to the inn since he would be at the lab all night working on a solution for them. So by the time they walked out of the building, they were surprised to see that it was already half past noon. All the way to the inn, Guy had to carry the green-haired replica on his back because of how tired he was and the redheads didn't look any better. In fact, they both looked completely drained and who could blame them. After two panic attacks and both of them feeling the after effects of each other's exhaustion it was no wonder they looked like they were about to crash on the pavement; it was amazing how they weren't already. By the time they checked in and got their rooms, Luke and Asch practically passed out before their heads hit the pillows and the five looked at them sympathetically. "Poor guys, they really had a long day." The blonde Marquess commented as he laid Florian on a bed that the two are sharing while the girls shared another room. Then he noticed how quiet the Kimlascan Princess was being and frowned in concern. "Natalia, what's wrong?" The three noticed as we'll and also became concerned.

"Is something the matter?" asked Tear.

"Why...why didn't he tell me he had been having these episodes? Both of them." She said sadly and they began to understand.

"Master said that he didn't want any of you to worry and I'm sure Asch has his own reasons." Said Meiu and they turned to the cheagle in surprise and shock.

"Meiu! You knew this whole time?!" She questioned angrily and his ears drooped in guilt.

"Meiuu, I'm sorry. But Master made me promise not to tell or he would be mad at me and Asch threatened to eat me if I did!" Guy and Anise sweat-dropped. Well that sounds like Asch. They both thought.

"It's all right Meiu, it's not your fault." Said Tear, then closed her eyes sadly. "Still, we should've known; we've should've seen the signs."

"We'll it's not like we were able to see them so how could we?" Said Anise. "Luke is sometimes good at keeping secrets and his acting skills have been improving and Asch wasn't around much for us to notice anything; it's a bit hard to read those two, let alone tell them apart." She mumbled the last part to herself. "And we were pretty much 'preoccupied' at the time."

"That's still no excuse for us, we should've been there for them when they needed us the most so they wouldn't have to deal with it alone...especially how we treated Luke on the Tartarus before, he really needed us there and we turned away and abandoned him." Tear stated sadly. "Only Asch was able to help him, even though he didn't know it at the time." The blonde male agreed.

"Yeah, we really messed up big time. What kind of friends are we for not helping him and Asch is our friend too now, and we weren't able to do anything either-we just stood there like idiots."

"But on the bright side, he didn't have to go through it alone this time!" The raven chimed in positively. "Luckily, Luke was there and knew what he was doing, so he was able to help him." But Guy didn't think of it that way as he still had that guilty expression. In fact, it only made him more ashamed.

"That's just it, Luke knew exactly what he was doing because he had to learn how. And who do you think taught him?" He inquired and she paused as the thought dawned on her and he nodded. "That's right, no one. He had to learn how on his own." Natalia gasped behind her hands in realization.

"That's right," she said in a quiet voice, "he was forced to figure it out on his own...with no one there to support him. He had to suffer through it alone." Then a terrible thought just occurred to her. How many times did those smiles they give her was fake? How many times had they said they were fine when they were the complete opposite? By this point, tears fell from her eyes as she cried in devastation and ran off towards the room the girls were sharing before closing the door behind her. The blue cheagle sniffed in sadness for his Master and Asch while Guy and Anise just looked ashamed. The Melodist one the other hand looked angry.

"Those two idiots." She muttered angrily

"Well...you can't really blame them," said the Fon Mistress, "we don't know Asch very well so it's no wonder he wouldn't tell us anything and Luke just didn't want us to worry. So he probably thought it was his problem to deal with." Or as punishment or something, she added silently to herself but didn't voice it out since it'll only cause more problems.

"Still, can't they see that in doing so makes them suffer and hurting the people around them?"

"I think they do," said the blonde noble, "but think from their perspective. They probably think that if anyone should be hurt it should be them that would hurt the most-that way, no one else will or something along the lines; they have that in common. They just think it's the noble thing to do, to keep it to themselves."

"Well I think they're being idiots. That's another thing they have in common." She commented coldly before leaving as well.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10

The whole night, the boys hadn't even once woken up-not even for dinner did they wake up and the others had tried to. So when they saw the twins the next morning for breakfast, they were shocked to see them still a bit out of it as they trudged their way over to grab their breakfast and came over to the table they were all sitting at, dropping their food on the table before practically slamming their heads down with exhausted groans. The girls stared at them stunned; even Florian was surprised since he wasn't as tired as they were since he also slept through the whole night as well. Guy, however, was completely amused (though sympathies but still amused) as he snickered at their state. "Morning Sleeping Beauties, did you have a nice nap?" He teased and they both glanced up, giving him dull glares.

"Fuck off." They mumbled out and he laughed while the girls looked horrified at their language as the raven proceeded to cover the young replica's ears who looked confused.

"Language you guys!" She reprimanded, but they just shrugged her off and dropped their heads back on the table. "How are you two still tired after sleeping like the dead?" They just mumbled incoherently in response as Meiu ignorantly munched on a grape and Tear slightly blushed at the adorable sight. After breakfast, they set off to go back towards the lab for the twin's testing-Meiu deciding on riding tanned haired Commandant's shoulder after annoying the older Viscount again-who were both still tired even after drinking some coffee. Once inside, they immediately found the General waiting for them.

"Ah, glad you could make it. Come, let's discuss in my office." They followed him down a series of hallways until they stopped in front of a blue door with his name on it. Inside was a fairly spacious office with white walls and a desk near the wall in between two windows, a light blue round rug in the middle of the blue carpet, a globe on the right side next to a filing cabinet, and a large bookcase on the left side with degrees on the walls. They sat down on the chairs and the couch that were in the room while Jade sat at his desk and Guy leaned against the bookcase. "Now then, I did some research on the symbol on the dog tag and it seems my assumptions were correct about the symbol being the problem." said Jade. "I've also looked into the data I've collected from Luke and Florian and may have a theory on a reason why they have an aversion towards it." they all brightened at this and the isofons straightened, now wide-awake.

"Really General?" exclaimed Anise.

"Yes really," said Jade, "now I think the reason behind it is that somehow this person was able to make the fonon resonance I created from just a noise into something physical by merging the fonons it uses and anchoring the frequency onto an object, hence forth the 'symbol of doom'."

"What?! Is that even possible?" Guy exclaimed, voicing out everyone's thoughts. Jade's face became grim as he clasped his hands in front of him.

"Apparently so," he replied, "whoever created this is incredibly intelligent and very, _very_ dangerous. Not even I thought of making something so terrible for replicas and if they are able to created this, then it's possible that they are capable of making my research onto something of a weapon on originals as well." They fell silent in disbelief as they processed how dire the situation became. If these people, this new _Order_, could be as smart or even smarter than the Necromancer and Father of Fomicry himself to create something like this, than they were deeply in danger. Guy gave out a humorless chuckle and they all turned their attention to him.

"It's ironic actually. When something bad happens like this, it always comes to fomicry."

"Yeah," said Anise, "not to mention it always ends up with a new Order; though we're lucky that it's not about the Score this time."

"I'm sorry." Luke suddenly said and they turned to him. "This is my fault. Things always happen when I'm around and I have to involve you all into this."

"You idiot." Said Guy. "We would've been involved no matter."

"Yes, we would have because we all care about you and your well-being." Said the princess.

"But all those people that got hurt and killed in Baticul; they were after me and if I hadn't been there..."

"Hey, none of that was your fault. Those people were just at the wrong place at the wrong time and they got involved in the process." Said Asch. "And you weren't the one that got them involved or killed them. Those people did, not you; they are the ones that are at fault and have blood on their hands because of it." they all nodded at this, a bit surprised that Asch was the one to comfort the replica.

"Oh it's so touching how everyone gets so emotional these days." Jade remarked off-handedly and they all gave him blank stares.

"You really know how to ruin a moment, huh Necromancer?"

"My apologies, I'm just stating how heartwarming you can be." He retorted back and the man grumbled.

"Anyways," said Luke as he intervened on their little "argument" and got back on topic, "so what should we do?"

"Thankfully, I was able to create an alternate solution for this last night. It doesn't help us finding the people, but it can help prevent you boys from getting injured by the Death symbol." At this, their mood went up.

"Well spit it out! Will it help cure Luke and Florian?" said Asch.

"Yes, but it is only a half solution-a half cure you might say-and the fonon resonance will or will not affect them, that is still yet to be determined-" Jade explained, "but it will undoubtedly cure them from not feeling any pain of it until I can create a permanent solution. Well, seventy percent of not feeling any pain but we can't know for sure unless we try it...Though I could be wrong, however, since it has never been tested out and I am not positive it will work nor do I know the outcome, or if there may or may not be any side effects. There is an eighty percent chance that it might." The room was silent as they gone over their options on what to do. All of them were apprehensive of what the outcome would be.

The younger Viscount sighed and patted his thighs in acceptance. "Well, it's better than nothing, so what the hell. Let's give it a shot! No pun intended." he stated positively, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to try out a cure that has never been tested and everyone's eyes bulged as they turned to him.

"Luke, are you sure about this?" the Commandant questioned worriedly. "We don't know what will happen."

"No, but we won't know until we try and what choice do we have; I'm not just doing it for myself. I'm also doing this for all the replicas who are still being rejected in this world and I am not just gonna sit idly by and watch my people get hurt and killed by some stupid hate-group because I'm too much of a coward to take some cure that could help them." Tear sighed but gave a small smile nonetheless along with everyone. Typical Luke behavior; always thinking about others instead of himself. "So, what do I have to do?"

"Nothing." Said Jade as he opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out two syringes with a green substance inside. "I was able to make it into a liquid based solution, so you won't have to do anything."

"Well all right, let's get this done." He commented as he handed his white coat to his twin and got up towards the desk before holding up his arms to the blue-clad man. They all watched in tense silence as Jade rubbed some alcohol on the crook of Luke's elbow and took off the cap of the syringe.

"This may sting a little." He informed as he squirted the bubbles out and stuck the needle in. Luke winced slightly as it entered his arm and watched the liquid squirt into his arm before the man pulled it out. "It'll take about five minutes for it to take affect. Then we'll hope to see that it'll work." For five minutes, they all sat there making small to try and relieve some of the tension in the room until the General got their attention and opened another drawer, pulling out the dog tag. He handed it to Luke and the replica instinctively recoiled back from its close proximity, still feeling that dark aura permeating from it.

Asch felt how scared he was and was about to get up but stopped when Luke glanced back at him and shook his head, making the older sibling to reluctantly sit back down. Luke knew that he had to do this on his own because he can't rely on Asch-or anyone else for that matter-to be there to hold his hand or do things for him. So with bated breath, he turned back and slowly reached out for the object. He hesitated for a second before taking ahold of the metal. After three minutes of feeling nothing but warm metal, they all let out a breath of relief and Luke quickly gave back the dog tag with a shaky hand and quickly sitting back down into between Tear and Asch, accepting his jacket back. "So it would seem it does work. But we still need to check for any side effects and to see how long it will last. Also, we have one more test to conduct." He stated and pulled out the same scanner from a drawer and the twins tensed up. "Be ready." He informed as he turned some knobs, looking up to see that they were ready, and activated it.

It started out as a low-high pitched sound before he turned up the volume slowly as the young redhead listened to the ringing with Meiu's ears perking up at the sound. Then it got louder and louder until it became an annoying pitch of the same ringing tone and still nothing as everyone watched the redheads for any reaction; the only facial expression they got from Luke was a slight frown of annoyance from him, which was a relief. Their relief was short-lived after five minutes of Luke listening to the tone and his eyes became the same wide-eyed, trance-like state as his hands trembled like before. Then it became a pained expression on both of the redheads' faces as they scrunched their eyes tightly shut and their hands slowly made their way for their heads.

"Turn it off, General!" Anise exclaimed urgently.

"Jade, shut it off! Now!" said Guy and the red-eyed man turned the device off and the boys' faces becoming lax as they panted slightly.

"Are you two all right?" asked the blonde princess and they nodded.

"What happened?!" Florian exclaimed. Jade hummed as he studied the two.

"Hmm. It seems that I was only able to create a solution to cure them somewhat of their problem. Though it was to be expected since it was only a half solution, and they seemed to be able to withstand the fonon resonance by only ten minutes at the most." He concluded. "I'll have to look into this more closely so I can find a better solution." Then he motioned for Florian to come forward so he could get his vaccination as well. He asked them a few questions on their health until he got what he needed for now and escorted them out of his office towards the testing area specifically made for the redheads. Asch was curious as to what his look-alike was so excited about and asked.

"Because most of the time we do these tests, we get to smash things." Was his reply and he rolled his eyes. Of course, only Luke could have fun breaking a few things. _Though I will admit, I could use a stress reliever._ He thought as they walked on when suddenly they both sensed something was off and looked over to the most observant person in the group who was taking the lead. Jade glanced back slightly and they knew he was sensing something was off as well, probably before they did. The two glanced at each other and grinned evilly.

'Wanna try out these new toys we've been playing with?'

'Brother please, I've been dying to try these out on something more fun than you.' Asch rolled his eyes as they both sneakily slipped something out sleeves and out dropped two hand guns in both of their waiting hands; both of them sporting identical black and white guns with gold and red engravings of the Fabre crest on the barrels. In one swift movement, Luke fired at the ceiling while Asch fired behind them down the hall, making the others duck when they saw it. What he was aiming for moved out of the way and began running down the hall and Asch gave chase as he pursued his target. Meanwhile, Luke walked forward-not taking his off the ceiling-as continued to fire down the other direction, then turned left and kicked a door open and continued shooting again until he stopped at one particular spot. He fired bullet after bullet in a shape of a circle, causing the part of the ceiling to collapse. Through the debris, a cough could be heard along with a groan of pain from a male voice. The smoke cleared until it revealed a man in dark clothing, pale skin, and dark hair with a bullet wound in his shoulder. The intruder groaned again as he put a hand to his shoulder, then paused when he heard a click and looked to see a pair of black and white guns held to his head. "Don't move or I'll shoot." Ordered Luke with cold emerald eyes glaring back at him as the others ran in with shocked looked, excluding Jade of course as he calmly walked in like nothing ever happened.

"Good work Luke, but I must say. Do please try not to wreck my whole facility." The young monarch grinned, not taking his eyes off the intruder as the others stared in astonishment.

"Luke...since when did you learn how to handle a gun?" his blonde best friend questioned, stunned and the boy shrugged.

"About a month ago, I just never had the chance to use them; you don't know how many weapons I have hidden under these clothes that I've been dying to use for a while." Said Luke as he waved one of the guns in his hands to show them before returning it back to their target. "And this was the perfect opportunity to use these bad boys." Just then, a woman with blonde hair that was pulled into a bun with a pair of glasses and a lab coat on walked in with her hands behind her head and Asch, not too far behind, escorted her with his guns pointed at her head. "About time you got here, I was starting to wonder if you got lost." The remarked and the older grinned.

"Shut up." He retorted back as he made his prisoner kneel next to her friend.

"By the way, not bad for your first shooting." He complimented and his brother shrugged.

"Still need to work a bit more on my aim, though." He said off-handedly and their friends just stared at them as if they were nuts for having a conversation as if everything was normal while they had two prisoners in front of them.

"What the HELL Asch?! You nearly blew our heads off!" the raven exclaimed, exasperated.

"But I didn't." he countered nonchalantly and she grumbled.

"Well it would have at least been to been given a fair warning, you know?" she stated in annoyance.

"Where would be the fun in that?" he remarked and she glared. "Besides, if I did that she would have gotten away. Aand, according to you, I'm not nice." Anise was about to let him have when the oldest person in the group cleared his throat to bring the attention back on track.

"This has been quite amusing, but let's save the argument about Asch's aim and his dysfunctional personality for another time." Luke snickered under his breath at the Jade's comment and Asch just grumbled in annoyance. "Right now, we have more important matters to discuss about; like these two for instance, who have been spying on us since before we entered my office." The two nodded in reluctance. Tear and Guy then pulled out their weapons and held them close to the spies' necks, relieving the twins from their positions since their arms were starting to get tired, slipping their guns back into their sleeves.

"Who are you people? Do you work for the Cleanse?" Guy questioned as he held the Jewel of Gardios up closer to the man. The two stayed silent.

"Answer the question. Why were you spying on us?" Tear demanded, holding the knife closer to the woman. Still nothing.

"Why don't we try something different for once instead of interrogating them?" Luke suggested. "It's obvious that they aren't going to tell us anything. Asch, how about it? This could actually be a good opportunity for you to practice one of your abilities on someone other than me." The other thought on it before they both kneeled down in front of spies. The others caught on.

"Luke, Asch. Are you both sure you want to use _that_ ability? You know how it completely drains you both and it's a complete invasion of privacy!" Natalia stated worriedly.

"It's not like we want to use it, but we have to get used to using it somehow so it doesn't drain us." He argued.

"And besides, we don't have any other choice and you know how Luke feels about torturing someone for answers." Asch added and Luke smiled gratefully.

'Thanks, Brother...' the other smiled back.

'Anything, Little Light.' Then he became serious again as he turned back to the spies. "And also, this is not the time to think about trivial things such as privacy right now; they don't even have the privilege to that now."

"Oh...right. My apologies." answered Natalia, feeling silly for even saying something such as that. The two closed their eyes as they slowly raised a hand up, their palms facing the man and woman's faces and concentrated. When they opened them, their eyes a startling swirl of gold-not even pupils present-as the intruder's owns became lifeless. They all watched in fascination as the redheads' eyes moved from side to side in fast movements as if they were watching a fast moving picture show until they simultaneously gasped and moved away from the two, blinking a few times. Their eyes returned to their normal emerald color but their faces were a bit pale from how much energy and fonons they had to use and were breathing heavily. The man and the woman, however, were looking confused, not know what had just happened. Guy gave a low whistle as Natalia came to both their sides in concern.

"Been awhile since I've seen you use that trick." He commented, and then became concerned. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah..."Luke replied breathlessly while Asch nodded, equally breathless.

"...But we've got something." Asch chimed in.

"Well, what did you see?" asked the Fon Mistress, anxiously when the two were able to breath properly.

"Not much, but they do work for the Cleanse. They were sent here to spy on us and gather information." He explained before narrowing his eyes. "Apparently they've been keeping tabs of Luke for the past three months by disguising themselves as a servant and a maid back at home in the castle." This appalled Natalia.

"What?! You mean to say that I've had spies in my own home?!" he nodded as him and Luke slowly got to their feet. Then she frowned. "Remind me to do a background check on _everyone_ back at home; I will not have these kinds of people in my own home."

"Enough about that," said Jade as he adjusted his glasses, "did you at least see who they work for and where we can find where they meet?"

"Well...yes and no." answered Luke. "The person they work for is called by the name of Rain, but we couldn't see their face because they wore a mask and were wearing a cloak, nor did the person ever speak so we couldn't if they were male or female at all." Asch took over from there.

"The only person that we could see was a male around his thirties in white clothing with long silver hair and a deep voice; most likely their right-hand man since he was the one who repeated everything this person told them...The only problem is that we don't know where they are because they only met him or her once at a warehouse somewhere in Kaitzur in the middle of the night and they don't where their hideout is because their camp moves around from place to place every two weeks in a remote location, each one different."

"Damn it." Guy cursed.

"Is there anything else that could be useful to us?" Jade inquired. The younger Fabre shrugged.

"Only that the Cleanse contact each other with cryptic messages for their assignments and they obviously hate fomicry, but other that, no. Oh wait! We did see Dist as one of the messengers for their orders." Then Luke began to laugh nervously one he saw a dark, malicious smile appear on the sandy-haired man's face.

"I see..." Jade sighed tiredly. "I do so hate being right all the time. But moving on. It seems we were correct to assume that they have a hatred replicas and want to eradicate them. But what I am most concerned about is why they seem to be focusing all their attention on Luke, other than the fact that he is a replica."

"We are not just after replicas," they whipped their heads around when they heard the male finally speak, "we are after something much bigger and it involves that one in particular." Then he inched his neck back when the Marquess inched his sword closer.

"What is it that you are after than? Why are you after Luke?"

"Save your breath, Guy." Asch intervened, "They don't know the whole plan to their leaders mission; they were only told to gather information from us and used their hatred for fomicry against them by telling them that what they are doing can 'cure' Auldrant of the 'plague'." Then he closed his eyes and turned away. "They're just the foot soldiers; told to be given orders without question and are only driven by that hatred so they can meet their own goals without thinking of the consequences." His counterpart put a comforting hand on his shoulder, knowing what he was thinking since Asch had the same thing.

"Humph. So Rain was right, Asch the Bloody is bloody. A bloody hypocrite." Said the female in a Scottish accent but froze when the knife on her neck came closer, silencing her.

The older monarch frowned. "I won't lie, I am a hypocrite. But what about you, huh? You told yourself that you would never harm a living being because of what your father did to you, and here you are now; you already have blood on your hands!" the woman blanched, but collected herself and scoffed.

"As if killing two replicas are _living beings_; they are nothing but disgusting abominations to man-kind and those three originals were in my way, so sacrifices had to be made. They are not fit to be even called living beings when they are just pieces of trash that have no purpose in life!" the others gasped while the General narrowed his eyes. Then Asch brought out one of his guns again and pointed it at her head, his eyes glowing gold and his hair waving around in the air slightly as he snarled at her.

"Take. That. Back." He growled out angrily.

"Asch." He heard his replica's voice and glanced over at him. Luke looked at him worriedly and he felt a twinge of guilt. So he closed his eyes and breathed slowly as he gathered himself before opening them, his eyes returning to normal once again. Luke smiled at him in relief. "There's no point in killing her since these two were sent here on a suicide mission like the other one, remember?" Asch nodded, about to lower his weapon.

"Like I said, a bloody hypocrite. Especially towards that thing he calls a 'brother'." She remarked and he snapped as his eyes turned gold again along with his hair, floating around in sporadic movement as he glared back at her with his weapon back at her head again. But not only that, his canines began to grow sharper as he growled and they all stared in astonishment.

"You filthy, son of a-"

"Brother!" Suddenly, he felt something tackle him, making him drop his gun as he stumbled back slightly in surprise and close to falling to the ground by the force of it. He blinked out of his haze and looked down to see his little light hugging him in a tight embrace, his face buried into his chest. He looked back up to see everyone (including the intruders who were a bit shaken up) equally stunned with fearful expressions and he realized what had happened, _again. Damn it! _He thought regrettably as the glow died down and he wrapped an arm around the boy. Luke glanced up and sighed in relief when he saw his big brother was okay. His original mentally apologized to him for breaking his promise and Luke thought nothing of it as he smiled slightly up at him as he gave him one final squeeze before letting go.

Asch then picked up his gun where he dropped it and glanced over at the General, whose expression was hard to read but was expected. "By the way Jade, nice work on detecting if any replicas were killed or not?!" he retorted and Luke swatted the back of his hand lightly on his shoulder.

"Asch, come on! It's not his fault that she broke in here while he was away to visit us; he couldn't have known because he was too busy with us; cut him some slack!"

"Tch. Whatever." He mumbled out and slipped his gun back in his sleeve

"A-anyways, what did you guys mean by a suicide mission?" Anise questioned as she tried to shake off of what had transpired a minute ago.

"Exactly what I mean," Luke answered, "they knew they would be captured eventually after giving their leader the information they needed by carrier pigeon and also...to give us a message." He stated sadly as he glanced at them.

"And the message is that you can't stop us no matter how hard you try." The woman stated vehemently as she glared at each and every one of the occupants in the room. "The Cleanse will succeed in ridding the world of fifth like you and anyone who stands in our way in our way...will meet the same fate." She threatened maliciously before they both twitched and convulsed around and made gagging noises, their eyes rolling to the back of their heads as foam accumulated in their mouths and the four of them moved backed when their prisoners' bodies collapsed face-first. The General calmly walked over and examined them.

"Just like the assassin." He confirmed. "I'll call someone to send their bodies back to their families so they can bury them properly."

"You don't need to do that Jade," said Luke sadly, "because they don't have any anymore." Asch put a comforting hand on him before facing the others again.

"The reason they hate fomicry so much...was because fomicry killed their families."

TTT

After the initial shock, Jade ordered some soldiers to take the bodies away and bury them, after asking the boys any more information about them and who they work for, but sadly there wasn't much and the men took the bodies away. The group continued on with their destination towards the testing area. The room was a very large and bare white room with only a one-way window and a door next to it where the twins had emerged, which was the control room. Asch looked around and was amazed at how high the ceilings were and the width of it as big as to hold three albiores. He was also confused as to why it was empty, but he didn't worry about seeing how Luke wasn't and just followed him until they were in the very middle and turned to the window where their friends were behind it. "You are so going to enjoy this." His counterpart exclaimed in excitement and the other rolled his eyes as Jade's voice came through a speaker.

"All right boys, we'll be starting the testing of your abilities. Your choice." Luke hummed in thought before grinning gleefully.

"How about strength?" he suggested and the man chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised? All right then, strength it is." Behind the window, the others were watching closely as Jade and a few scientists pressed some buttons and switches as well as their friends on the other side. The twins felt the room shake as the floor opened up to large boulders, concrete, slabs of metal and other hard and heavy material.

"So what? Do we just smash and lift things?" the oldest questioned as he looked up at a tree.

"And throw, but yeah pretty much." The younger added. He paused when he saw a competitive grin on his isonfon's face.

"Well then, let's see who can lift the heaviest weight." As this, the other grinned as well.

"Are you challenging me dear Big Brother, because if we are what shall we bet on?"

"Winner takes ten gald pieces from the loser." He stated smugly and the other chuckled.

"All right, I'm game. Newbies go first." Luke gestured to him who scoffed as he stepped up to a big tree before lifting it effortlessly and setting it down. "Pfft! That's nothing." Luke picked up a boulder and spun it around on his finger like a basketball.

"Humph. I can do that in my sleep." Their friends shook their heads as they watched them lift objects up and make retorts and come backs at each other in amusement at their competitive streaks while the scientists took down data on the monitors.

"They seem to be having fun." Guy commented, chuckling as he watched his former charges taunt each other. He laughed at a particular one Luke said to Asch, causing to get pissed off.

"Yes they certainly do, can't say that I'm surprised that they would make this into a competition." Said Tear.

"Aww, I want ten gald pieces." Anise whined, pouting even though she had all the money she could ever want in the world.

"By all means, go on and join them." Jade insisted and she paled a bit.

"What?! And get smashed by those crazy morons?! Sorry, I'll pass on being a pancake." She stated and continued watching. By the hundred slab of metal, the two came out as a tie, only slightly tired.

"Okay, now's my favorite par: smashing. Whoever can make the most impressive smash, wins. Winnings still apply, _only_ we double it." Luke stated.

"All right, you go first. The worst is the best Dreck." He glared at him before he turned and punched a tree in half. Luke turned to him smugly but Asch wasn't impressed and shrugged before he waked over to a large boulder and punched to dust. The other just yawned as he walked over to a stone slab and with a flick of his finger it flew across the room and smashed into the wall. "Hey! You said smashing, not throwing!"

"Throwing an object at something is considered smashing and throwing is a part of the testing and I never said you couldn't. Besides, I didn't throw it, I simply flicked it and might I say_ was_ quite impressive." Asch growled and cracked his knuckles before smirking evilly.

"Fine then, you wanna paly dirty? Then we'll play dirty." He stated before spinning around and swiftly knocking a tree down with the back of his hand, causing a domino effect on some other trees. This went on for a while until they were surrounded by a pile of rubble and the winner being Asch who had smashed through four slabs of metal with one kick, making a perfect circle. Luke kicked a pebble in frustration, knowing that he lost.

"Damn it!" the older cackled and held out his hand and his twin begrudgingly handed him his money.

"Amusing displays you two; now why don't you two try and rest a little and do speed when you're ready shall we?" Jade suggested before cutting off and the twins moved to the wall to rest a little. When they told him they were ready, the whole area shook until the floor sunk down, replacing it with a new floor walls with only one entrance through it. "The room is now a maze. You will be set under a time limit about one hour and all you have to do is find a box in the middle. Find it before time runs out. Good luck."

"Tch. Great, as if I didn't feel like I was Jade's lab rat before. Now I'm practically am one." Luke chuckled before they glanced at each other and smirked. "Let's see who gets there the fastest."

"No cheats or bets."

"Agreed." They nodded before Jade told them to go and they took off in different directions. Since the others couldn't see them through the window this time, a holographic screen popped up with two dots blinking on the maze screen; one black and one white.

"Anyone wanna bet who's gonna win?" Anise asked slyly.

"No!" they stated and she pouted.

"Boo! You guys are no fun."

"I mean honestly, it simply doesn't matter who wins or not." Stated Natalia, "And even if it did it is obvious who is going to win without the use of a bet." The young Commandant nodded.

"I agree; it is obvious."

"Oh boy, I know where this is going." The blonde noble mumbled to Florian and the cheagle who both looked at him confused. "Just watch and stay back from them." He warned as both the girls said at the same time: "Luke." "Asch."

"What?!" both girls said at the same time again before narrowing their eyes at one another.

"You think that Luke will be faster than Asch?"

"Of course, it is only logical since he has been training longer than his brother."

"Well, I never! Asch has been training just as hard as Luke so that would make them evenly matched."

"Yes, but the only reason he would get this far is because of Luke helping him."

"Well he still won that the first match, so it would make sense that he would win again!"

"Now that is just absurd-"

"Ladies please," Guy interjected nervously, "let's all just take a deep breath and calm down. Who knows, it could be a tie?"

"Stay out of this!" they yelled and he sweat-dropped when they turned their glare onto him before going back to arguing with each other.

"Oh dear, now look what at you have done." Jade tsked at Anise who stuck her tongue out at him.

"I may not be afraid of girls anymore, but if I stay around them long enough when they're like this I'll probably will again." Guy mumbled to himself as they all but tuned out the two women and continued to watch the hologram.


End file.
